Seven Samurai (1956)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  10 / 10

  Seven Samurai is possibly cinema's greatest accomplishment. This is one heck of a behemoth: 207 minute runtime, 1954, black and white, Japanese...it's not something where you can go "hmmmm yes let's watch that." You will need to want to watch this, that's not a negative quality at all because quite frankly this is masterful film making. Akira Kurosawa was nothing short of genius, the numerous creative shots and perfect action sequences evidently makes this a timeless classic. It's a bold brave statement to the cinema. There is so much to analyse! The final battle sequence was shot with three cameras to prevent the scene from being disjointed. The subtle focus on the dark side of the samurai tradition. Quick editing in the first act, slow motion during death scenes and the mobile camera movement during more frantic segments...it never feels monotonous. Practically nearly all filmed on location, Kurosawa knew that authenticity was vital. The acting was fantastic all-round, very humanistic performances. The stand out is Toshiro Mifune who gives us an extremely animated comedic performance as Kikuchiyo. The story is one that has been remade many times since Seven Samurai (most notably The Magnificent Seven). A village lives in fear from bandits who threaten to raid them, so a group of peasants employ seven samurai warriors to help protect them. Simple right? No. The beauty of the narrative is the clash of trust between the villagers and the samurai, internally it is a growing struggle of tradition and it's exquisitely explored. Cleverly we also grow suspicion as a viewer, but as the film progresses we, like the villagers, find greatness within them. It is a massive run time of 207 minutes, yet somehow it only feels like 90 minutes. The intermission did help...I miss those in films, bring them back! Everything came together: story, character development, production, direction. It's a technical marvel that probably has yet to be exceeded. Easily, Seven Samurai gets the perfect rating.

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