Akira Kurosawa
I heard that a 7 Samurai remake is coming in 2009. It's most likely going to be god awful like the 7 Samurai anime, so I figured I might as well see the highly acclaimed original just to see what all the hype is about. I haven't been around lately, because I've been watching & rewatching that 3 hour long Seven Samurai ish. What a pleasant surprise the movie actually lived up to it's reputation. I was expecting 7S to be another one of those dumbass samurai flicks that relied on overly excessive violence & superficial scenes of emotional development. Now don't get me wrong. I love excessively violent movies. That's why I love the 70's, 80's where exploitation cinema reigned. I just fucking hate it when they get portrayed as deep. (Most of Takashi Miike's films come to mind.) Let me get straight to the point. I fucking love Seven Samurai. It's in my top 5 list for best film of all time now. What's weird is that I'm normally not into straight forward narratives. (Which is why "Rashomon" is next in my Kurosawa to watch list. Rasho's style of story telling is more up my alley. Ran was going to be my second Kuro flick, but I couldn't find a torrent anywhere.) What made Seven Samurai tick was how every single minute of its 3 hour something time frame was used to set up & develop the characters within the movie. Hell, it takes 2 hours & 30 minutes before the actual battle starts. Even when the battle starts you're still treated to character development, & narrative plot twists. I was actually rooting for the samurai to pull it off to the very end. Most of all, 7S is one of the few movies I've seen that is actually deep without getting too convoluted or obtuse. (Most deep movies are usually more in the vein of a Lynch film.) I love the narrative plot twist in the end when Kambei says "The winners are those farmers, not us." Which makes you rethink the true meaning of what he meant when he claimed that he's only fought "losing battles" By the end of the movie we finally realize what he meant. He was saying that Samurai are just a weapon that people use in a time of need, but are then discarded by society once their role as been accomplished. I dunno man. That was just some powerful ass shit. Especially when you take into account all the subthemes & mini plots that are contained in the movie. This article explains more about that. http://www.alor.org/Triumph%20of%20The%20Past/The%20Seven%20Samurai.htm The scenes that really stuck out to me were when Kikuchiyo holds onto a baby & claims that he's just like him. (His family was killed by bandits.) The other one is when Rikichi reveals that the woman who was burned alive in the bandit hq was his wife who he gave to the bandits in order to appease them. This movie throws in so many character focused narrative twists that I've no doubt just ruined by spoiling them. This is everything that I thought Battle Royale was going to be. I always knew that BR was a stupid violent pos just from watching the commercials when I was in Japan. It's just that BR has a cult audience that fronts BR as if were deep & complex when it actually isn't. Battler Royale is about as complex as a "deep" video game. I can't praise Seven Samurai enough. It's a sad shame that most people will overlook this movie simply because it's old or foreign. I myself overlooked it, because I thought it was going to be another overrated ass Japanese movie. Filled with over glamorized violence & overt melodrama. While I could do without the melodrama in the beginning of Seven Samurai. I felt that the drama in 7S was genuinely pulled off in a realistic manner. The violence itself is more in tune with Saving Private Ryan. As in the battle scenes look gritty & realistic. Seven Samurai is everything that I thought Battle Royale was going to be in terms of characterization. Unlike Battle Royale I actually care for the cast in 7S due to their personalities, & personal convictions. Whereas in Battle Royale, I only rooted for the characters who I'd like to fuck. (Chigusa, Mitsuko, that leader chick from the Light House scene.) My connection to the battle royale cast was superficial whereas 7S reeled you in to their world & plight. Note: I dig Battle Royale. I just feel that the movie is being overrated for the wrong reasons. Kitano was the only character worth giving a fuck about in that film. Him & maybe Mitsuko. The BR movie somewhat falls into a trap where the villains are far more interesting than the lead protagonists. That is if you consider Mitsuku & Kitano villains in the first place.
I heard that a 7 Samurai remake is coming in 2009. It's most likely going to be god awful like the 7 Samurai anime, so I figured I might as well see the highly acclaimed original just to see what all the hype is about. I haven't been around lately, because I've been watching & rewatching that 3 hour long Seven Samurai ish. What a pleasant surprise the movie actually lived up to it's reputation. I was expecting 7S to be another one of those dumbass samurai flicks that relied on overly excessive violence & superficial scenes of emotional development. Now don't get me wrong. I love excessively violent movies. That's why I love the 70's, 80's where exploitation cinema reigned. I just fucking hate it when they get portrayed as deep. (Most of Takashi Miike's films come to mind.) Let me get straight to the point. I fucking love Seven Samurai. It's in my top 5 list for best film of all time now. What's weird is that I'm normally not into straight forward narratives. (Which is why "Rashomon" is next in my Kurosawa to watch list. Rasho's style of story telling is more up my alley. Ran was going to be my second Kuro flick, but I couldn't find a torrent anywhere.) What made Seven Samurai tick was how every single minute of its 3 hour something time frame was used to set up & develop the characters within the movie. Hell, it takes 2 hours & 30 minutes before the actual battle starts. Even when the battle starts you're still treated to character development, & narrative plot twists. I was actually rooting for the samurai to pull it off to the very end. Most of all, 7S is one of the few movies I've seen that is actually deep without getting too convoluted or obtuse. (Most deep movies are usually more in the vein of a Lynch film.) I love the narrative plot twist in the end when Kambei says "The winners are those farmers, not us." Which makes you rethink the true meaning of what he meant when he claimed that he's only fought "losing battles" By the end of the movie we finally realize what he meant. He was saying that Samurai are just a weapon that people use in a time of need, but are then discarded by society once their role as been accomplished. I dunno man. That was just some powerful ass shit. Especially when you take into account all the subthemes & mini plots that are contained in the movie. This article explains more about that. http://www.alor.org/Triumph%20of%20The%20Past/The%20Seven%20Samurai.htm The scenes that really stuck out to me were when Kikuchiyo holds onto a baby & claims that he's just like him. (His family was killed by bandits.) The other one is when Rikichi reveals that the woman who was burned alive in the bandit hq was his wife who he gave to the bandits in order to appease them. This movie throws in so many character focused narrative twists that I've no doubt just ruined by spoiling them. This is everything that I thought Battle Royale was going to be. I always knew that BR was a stupid violent pos just from watching the commercials when I was in Japan. It's just that BR has a cult audience that fronts BR as if were deep & complex when it actually isn't. Battler Royale is about as complex as a "deep" video game. I can't praise Seven Samurai enough. It's a sad shame that most people will overlook this movie simply because it's old or foreign. I myself overlooked it, because I thought it was going to be another overrated ass Japanese movie. Filled with over glamorized violence & overt melodrama. While I could do without the melodrama in the beginning of Seven Samurai. I felt that the drama in 7S was genuinely pulled off in a realistic manner. The violence itself is more in tune with Saving Private Ryan. As in the battle scenes look gritty & realistic. Seven Samurai is everything that I thought Battle Royale was going to be in terms of characterization. Unlike Battle Royale I actually care for the cast in 7S due to their personalities, & personal convictions. Whereas in Battle Royale, I only rooted for the characters who I'd like to fuck. (Chigusa, Mitsuko, that leader chick from the Light House scene.) My connection to the battle royale cast was superficial whereas 7S reeled you in to their world & plight. Note: I dig Battle Royale. I just feel that the movie is being overrated for the wrong reasons. Kitano was the only character worth giving a fuck about in that film. Him & maybe Mitsuko. The BR movie somewhat falls into a trap where the villains are far more interesting than the lead protagonists. That is if you consider Mitsuku & Kitano villains in the first place.
(Who imo is probably the only guy alive who could even hope to equal the screen presence of Toshiro Mifune's roles.)
It's just too bad that Makabe plays a secondary role now.
Fuckin' gay ass modern day Jap films. Why the fuck is the feminine guy always the lead character? Logic dictates that the man with the balls should be the lead.
Especially since Hiroshi Abe is 6'3. Which would make him at least 7 inches taller than the original Makabe played by Mifune.
Mifune's Makabe is still the best however. If only because Mifune is far more intimidating & mean looking.
Now sure we could throw in the logic that Japan prefers female men, but then wtf was up with the original Hidden Castle?
Toshiro Mifune was a manly badass & he was also a triple aaa star.
(Hiroshi Abe is also a big name star, but he's nowhere near as popular as that Jun Matsumoto fag.)
That's enough Matsumoto hate for now though. I've seen him in Gokusen & he's actually a pretty decent actor. I just think it sucks how a Kurosawa film was remade with a fuckin' faggot ass bishie lead.
I shudder to think what that Seven Samurai remake is going to look like.
I envision something that's as hilarriously bad as the 7Samurai video game. Where the fuck do people get this shit? Seven Samurai was more about the drama of playing your role that society has parlayed for you.
Yet every single Seven Samurai adaption I've seen has always turned 7S into some retarded over the top Kitamura Animu like samurai bullshit.