As we have continued along this project, we’ve begun to notice that there aren’t any international films taking home the ‘Best Picture’ trophy. While we’re reviewing the main winners then, we’ve decided to recognise some of the most famous non-English speaking pieces every three weeks, continuing with the Japanese classic Seven Samurai.
Plot Intro
A peaceful village of farmers in late-16th century Japan find themselves under threat from a large group of bandits who want to ransack their food supply. Desperate and threatened by either starvation or slaughter, the villagers head to a nearby town in search of samurai who will protect them for food rather than money (which they don’t have). What they get is a team of seven Ronin (Samurai who have no masters), all of whom have their own backstories, secrets and inner demons. Will they protect the villagers, or die trying?
Paul says...
Director Akira Kurosawa helped put Japanese cinema on the map throughout the 1950s. Post-war Japan was in a period of rebirth, moving away from the atrocities committed by their military under the command of Emperor Hirohito, to become the progressive, democratic and economic powerhouse that it is today. Ideas of class were being questioned, with the Emperor himself becoming less powerful and more symbolic, and the peasant classes no longer being the oppressed masses but rather the backbone of the country’s economy.
And this is pretty much what Seven Samurai is all about. It is set in the late-16th century, another time when Japan was rife with civil war and social change, and whether the Emperor, the Shogun (the military dictator) or the people were in charge was in great contention. Many elements of the plot examine this: a group of peasants employing samurai without using money is emphasised as a controversial concept; the peasants are at first terrified of the powerful samurai who usually bully the lower classes, and it takes a while to build up trust; the young apprentice samurai, Katsushiro, attempts a relationship with a peasant girl which is even more shocking; the peasants fight alongside the samurai and do a majority of the killing; the samurai put up a flag which blends together symbols for the samurai and the village to represent their new-found unity; in other words, class boundaries are breaking down, and suddenly helping one’s fellow man for free becomes more important than complying with the rules of society.
Besides being an effective examination of Japanese social structures, it’s also a rollicking good action tale. Elements of the acting appear mawkish and overwrought but the characters are well-drawn, most of which have their own motivations for helping the peasants and each have their own little or, sometimes, big stories to tell. The most engaging is Kikuchiyo, who is a farmer in disguise as a samurai searching for vengeance and is frequently haunted by memories of his own dark past. The action sequences are infamous. Action films of this era run the risk of seeming static and awkward in the 21st century, but Kurosawa filmed the fight scenes with multiple cameras in one go. The result is that he can flip between views rapidly, and he edits with a stimulating pace.
Certain elements of the film have aged less well. When people die, it is blindingly obvious that they are just being tapped by the swords and arrows. Having grown up with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill, I am much more accustomed to seeing body parts scattering freely and fountains of blood to convey gruesome deaths. The budding romance between Katsushiro and the peasant girl is understandably controversial. The idea of a samurai loving a member of the poorer classes would be unthinkable. But to modern eyes, it’s not emotionally involving, and it suffers from the typically melodramatic '50s acting we’ve seen in From Here to Eternity and On the Waterfront. And at 3 hours 20 minutes, the film is too long. It’s nowhere near on the scale of, say, The Deer Hunter, which barely warranted half of its 3 hour running time. But a Rocky-style montage during the hour in which the villagers are being trained up could have kept the pace up and engaged us more with some of the minor characters.
Having said all this, this was a hugely influential film, with many modern directors using techniques and storylines that Kurosawa innovated. It was remade in 1960 as The Magnificent Seven with Yul Bryner and Steve McQueen, a highly successful western, and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life is based on both films too. Give yourself some breaks in viewing this, and you’ll find it’s a thrilling and intense experience.
Highlight
I loved the final battle in the rain. After so many fight scenes in a short space of time (and several deaths), you feel the exhaustion and knowledge that this is the make-or-break moment. I thought it was stunningly shot and Kurosawa used the weather so well.
Lowlight
The romantic storyline felt weak and outdated, and didn’t contribute much to the main storyline for me. I think it meant much more to a 1950s Japanese audience.
Mark
8/10
Doug says...
I’m going to say something surprising here. I think this film almost warrants its 3.5 hour running time. Oh yes, after my many rants on film length, this is a mere twenty minutes or so too long. Having said this, Pixar did the same film in 90 minutes with bugs instead of people so my point remains valid I feel.
This is great. The first hour is probably the best, with the slow accumulation of samurai to the team allowing you to meet them individually and pick up different elements of each - one is an artist dedicated only to getting better at his craft, another is a friendly joker whose main role is to cheer up the team and keep spirits high. I found Kurosawa’s film-making engaging for the simple reason that the man focuses on plot. Oh yes, there are no long artistic monologues, there are no attempts at artistic metaphor. It’s a cracking story and the director knows it - so he tells it simply and we benefit for it.
Like Paul I found myself engaged particularly in the adventures of farmer-turned-samurai Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) and the wise older leader Kambei (Takashi Shimura). The latter is a great presence throughout the film, acting with wisdom and solemnity, and I really enjoyed how they show his experience, including ‘war cabinet’ scenes where they sit outside and point at ink drawings on a piece of rice paper. Kikuchiyo is absorbing because his character is wildly frenetic and also at times affecting (especially a moment where he turns on the samurai, making them face how they often destroy the villagers’ lives) - and also because he's quite hot.
I wasn’t looking forward to this film because I don’t like war films. But Kurosawa handles it brilliantly - we don’t have an hour of battle footage solid like other films, but he breaks it into battles, with other storylines surfacing in between individual battles. A countdown kept by Kambei of how many bandits have been killed - and how many are yet to go - ensures the watcher remains gripped. I actually enjoyed the battle scenes for once.
This may have to do with - as Paul notes - how the villagers literally give a baddie a mild prod with a spear and said baddie falls over in ‘agony’ and promptly dies. This pantomimish feel actually lent the film an air of lightness which didn’t seem that bad. There are frequent light moments, the samurai are often joking and Shimura (as Kambei)’s face is almost always creased in amusement. It’s a kindly atmosphere and that pleasant felling ensures we enjoy spending time with these characters.
Highlight
I really enjoyed the first hour in particular, how each samurai is recruited is great storytelling and told with a lightness of touch that Western cinema often seems afraid to embrace.
Lowlight
Like Paul, the love story seemed unnecessary and hasn’t dated well. Although I did enjoy the moment that Katsushiro asks the peasant girl-masquerading-as-a-boy (don’t ask) why a ‘boy’ would pick flowers and then surreptitiously drops the flowers that he’s been gathering himself. Vair droll.
Mark
9.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment