Seven Samurai (1954)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Seven Samurai (1954) – A. Kurosawa

Exhilarating – even at over 200 minutes long – because Kurosawa knew exactly how to judge the audience’s interest and attention span.  With cinematographer Asaichi Nakai he does amazing things with dappled light and furious movement (by horses and men).  The story has many fabulistic qualities – poor farmers find seven disparate men to help them ward off an army of bandits (who descend on them each year) – although Kurosawa’s strengths lie in depicting the little details of their social interactions and their strategies.  Of course, each man has a different quality and backstory – the actors often bring mannerisms to the task of differentiation (Takashi Shimura as the leader often rubs his shaven head and, famously, Toshiro Mifune scratches, pull faces, and clowns around – later inspiring John Belushi).  The first half of the film shows us how the samurai are recruited and form the seven whereas the second half is all battles scenes (with a little romance in the daisies thrown in for the youngest of the force).  As the film progresses, step by step, we are drawn into the action with maps of the area (weak spot to the North), the crossing off of bandits (from the total of 33), and the burial mounds of the samurai (complete with swords on top).  Not everyone survives and the relationship between samurai and farmer may remain unchanged.  A film that can replenish and sustain your energy (like some sort of magic spell).