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jmovie: Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai
Oct. 14th, 2007 04:47 pmLike the other Kurosawa films I've seen Seven Samurai more than lives up to it's classic status. The plot, in case there's actually someone not familiar with it, revolves around a village hiring seven samurai to protect them from bandits. The samurai, most of whom have never met before, are gathered by a slightly older samurai named Kambei, and they're paid little more than food and bed. While everything in the movie is excellent and solid, it is completely owned by Toshiro Mifune's Kikuchiyo, a loud, rough, not-too-bright vagrant with a (secret) big heart who manages to join the group because they can't manage to get rid of him. Sometimes perseverance pays off.
One of the most important things to remenvber about thi movie is that (like Yojimbo and Sanjuro) it hugely influenced virtually every action movie that came after it. If you watch it and think "I've seen this 50 times before," well, that's because the 50 movies and shows(or shonen manga or anime) you saw thought it was a good idea when they saw this and used it. My particular favorite is Toshiro Mifune originating the "let me prep a half dozen back up weapons because I'm sure I'll kill so many that I'll use up/break my main one." For whatever reason, I always love that.
BUT!
It also impacted shojo manga/drama/wuxia too. "Here, lets cut your hair and dress you like a boy and no one will guess the truth even though you still look just like a girl." Soon to be followed by: "Because of your clothes I will think you're a boy even though you look just like a girl until a random plot contrivance causes me to accidentally grab your chest. We will then fall in love." The fact that 90% of the times I've seen variations of that was likely caused by this movie just made to 10 times better.
Anyway, excellent movie, go watch. For those who fear such things: I believe there were more people without samurai haircuts than with.
BTW, part of the reason I watched it now instead of in a few days is that I shall now watch the Samurai Seven anime, which I did not want to watch until after I saw the movie.
One of the most important things to remenvber about thi movie is that (like Yojimbo and Sanjuro) it hugely influenced virtually every action movie that came after it. If you watch it and think "I've seen this 50 times before," well, that's because the 50 movies and shows(or shonen manga or anime) you saw thought it was a good idea when they saw this and used it. My particular favorite is Toshiro Mifune originating the "let me prep a half dozen back up weapons because I'm sure I'll kill so many that I'll use up/break my main one." For whatever reason, I always love that.
BUT!
It also impacted shojo manga/drama/wuxia too. "Here, lets cut your hair and dress you like a boy and no one will guess the truth even though you still look just like a girl." Soon to be followed by: "Because of your clothes I will think you're a boy even though you look just like a girl until a random plot contrivance causes me to accidentally grab your chest. We will then fall in love." The fact that 90% of the times I've seen variations of that was likely caused by this movie just made to 10 times better.
Anyway, excellent movie, go watch. For those who fear such things: I believe there were more people without samurai haircuts than with.
BTW, part of the reason I watched it now instead of in a few days is that I shall now watch the Samurai Seven anime, which I did not want to watch until after I saw the movie.
