The Seven Samurai Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Seven Samurai
Year: 1954
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese

Akira Kurosawa is the best known Japanese Director around the World. The Seven Samurai is his most endearingly popular and most widely seen masterpiece. It was inspired by the old John Ford westerns and then itself inspired a new generation of Western classics. Without it we wouldn't have The Magnificent Seven (1960), the most successful of the American pictures modeled after this work of art. The bold departure from typical Japanese Jidai-geki would prove to be an intelligent decision.

A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day.

The Seven Samurai represents a great divide in Kurosawa's craft. His earlier work subscribed to Japanese traditions of conformity, teamwork and loyalty. All his films from from Samurai on are about rebellion and non-conformity.Japanese critics were hesitant to embrace pictures that went against their socialized conventions. Each character in the film is bound by roles imposed on them by society, it is only when they break those roles that anything changes and the villagers can stand a chance against the bandits.

Samurai is a long movie (207 minutes) but the time is well spent. Kurosawa could not capture each character and each moment so well if the picture was shorter. It does not drag, rather the camera is tireless and overwhelms us with impressive visuals and a great sense of mystery. The use of deep focus is constant, Kurosawa allows the audience to follow simultaneous actions in the foreground, middle and background. Rather than heavy editing, he devises shots in which the camera follows the rush and flow of the action. 

In conclusion, though Kurosawa was steadily rejecting Japanese cinematic customs, it is fairly clear that he did so with purpose. "Japanese films all tend to be rather bland in flavor, like green tea over rice,” Kurosawa remarked in an interview, making a quip at his long time rival Yasujiro Ozo. “I think we ought to have richer foods, and richer films. So I thought I would make this kind of film entertaining enough to eat.” Indeed Seven Samurai is great meal that all will enjoy. Praise it! 5/5