Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai (1954)

a film by Akira Kurosawa

The Seven Samurai is a great combination of epic and visual lyricism. It is the kind of movie that makes kids want to be samurai and practice their sword moves and it can at the same time inspire the most elaborate speeches about the aesthetics and symbolism of Japanese cinema. This film is both a great movie and an iconic piece, it is one of those movies from which others have found inspiration and rich ideas.

A village of farmers is terrorized by a gang of bandits and in despair they look for the help of a group of samurai to defend them offering nothing but food to pay for their services. That is the premise of this story in which Kurosawa explores the nature of society, the meaning of justice and the role of the individual constrained by the circumstances of its time. Using the elements of the samurai movies and introducing the elements of what will become the Western, this movie manages to address these deep and interesting topics with great care for the visual aesthetics and a strong narrative power.

The images in this film are powerful and evocative: bandits riding towards the town blighting the life of the peasants, peasants packed together unable of fighting back the dark destiny of their village, an archer points under the rain reaching the highest epic note on the climax of the movie. The composition of the images is rich and multi-layered: the is always something going on in the foreground and in the background and this simultaneity is also used in the narrative to drive the rhythm of the story, a trick that has been used again and again but seen in this movie feels like seeing an original Dali after knowing it only through gift-shop postcards.

It doesn't get anymore epic than in this movie. The action elements of this movie are smart and make the story really enjoyable and seed the ideas that lay underneath the wonderful surface of this movie. There is action, there are cool moves, great sequences, drama and humor and in the end there is the desolation of the samurai and the peasants that linger.

Yoyimbo

Yoyimbo (1961)

a film by Akira Kurosawa

This movie embodies all the climate that inspired Western movies, no surprise two of its remakes became to be so celebrated: A fistful of dollars(1964) and The last man standing(1996). It has the same desolation of the lawless lands, it has the synthetic story, the unleashed violence and the figure of the renegade, the ruthless anti-hero that is memorable in Clint Eastwood but is outstanding with Toshiro Mifune.

I enjoyed the two groups fighting over this town. I loved the cartoonish depictions of the characters: the huge guy with the hammer, the terrible looking outlaws, the peculiar looking Inokichi, the greedy and heartless wife, the pusillanimous constable, the newly arrived guy with the gun and so on. All of them make a really rich set of characters and although the story is so simple the characters together with the great soundtrack and smart camera movements provide an entertaining environment for the story.

Toshiro Mifune is great and the soul that he brings to this renegade is hard to match (it would take nothing less than Clint Eastwood to follow him). This masterless samurai is the perfect representation of the antihero and the fact that Mifune gives him so much ease and confidense makes it a memorable character.

This is the ultimate western and the great introduction of the "Man with no name" to the history of cinema. Is not my favorite Kurosawa but is lots of fun.