Toshirō Mifune

Takashi Shimura

Yoshio Inaba

Seiji Miyaguchi

Minoru Chiaki

Daisuke Katō

Isao Kimura

Keiko Tsushima

Yukiko Shimazaki

Kamatari Fujiwara

Yoshio Kosugi

Bokuzen Hidari

Yoshio Tsuchiya

Kokuten Kōdō

Eijirō Tōno

Jun Tatara

Atsushi Watanabe

Toranosuke Ogawa

Isao Yamagata

Kichijirō Ueda

Sôjin Kamiyama

Gen Shimizu

Keiji Sakakida

Shinpei Takagi

Shin Ōtomo

Toshio Takahara

Kan Sugi

Hiroshi Hayashi

Sachio Sakai

Sôkichi Maki

Ichirō Chiba

Noriko Sengoku

Noriko Honma

Masanobu Ôkubo

Etsuo Saijo

Minoru Itō

Haruya Sakamoto

Gorô Sakurai

Hideo Shibuya

Kiyoshi Kamoda

Senkichi Ōmura

Takashi Narita

Shōichi Hirose

Kôji Uno

Masaaki Tachibana

Kamayuki Tsubono

Taiji Naka

Chindanji Miyagawa

Shigemi Sunagawa

Akira Tani

Akio Kusama

Ryûtarô Amami

Jun Mikami

Haruo Nakajima

Sanpei Mine

Masahide Matsushita

Kaneo Ikeda

Takuzô Kumagaya

Ippei Kawagoe

Jirô Suzukawa

Junpei Natsuki

Kyôichi Kamiyama

Haruo Suzuki

Gorô Amano

Akira Kitchôji

Kōji Iwamoto

Hiroshi Akitsu

Akira Yamada

Kazuo Imai

Eisuke Nakanishi

Toku Ihara

Hideo Ôtsuka

Shû Ôe

Yasuhisa Tsutsumi

Yasumasa Ônishi

Tsuneo Katagiri

Megeru Shimoda

Masayoshi Kawabe

Shigeo Katô

Yoshikazu Kawamata

Takeshi Seki

Haruko Toyama

Tsuruko Mano

Matsue Ono

Tsurue Ichimanji

Masako Ōshiro

Kyōko Ozawa

Michiko Kadono

Toshiko Nakano

Shizuko Azuma

Michiko Kawabe

Yûko Togawa

Yayoko Kitano

Kyoko Mori

Misao Suyama

Toriko Takahara

Takeshi Katō

Tatsuya Nakadai

Ken Utsui

Ren Yamamoto

Hideo Oguni

Shinobu Hashimoto

Akira Kurosawa

Sōjirō Motoki

Yuji Hamada

Yasuyoshi Tajitsu

Teruyo Nogami

Sakae Hirosawa

Asakazu Nakai

Yoshirō Muraki

Hiromichi Horikawa

Takeharu Shimada

Fumio Hayasaka

Shigeru Mori

Takao Saitō

Fumio Yanoguchi

Kōhei Ezaki

Ichirô Minawa

Hiroshi Nezu

Mitsuo Kaneko

Kôichi Hamamura

Mieko Yamaguchi

Masanao Uehara

Midori Nakajô

Takashi Matsuyama

Masao Fukuda

Masaya Shimizu

Toshi Kaneko

Junjirō Yamada

Action

Drama

七人の侍

TOHO

Japan

日本語

Seven Samurai

epic

martial arts

japan

samurai

sword

peasant

village

looting

rice

fencing

moral ambiguity

black and white

battle

bandit

practice

criterion

jidaigeki

16th century

thoughtful

Andres Gomez

Fantastic movie with a great touch of reality.

Kenneth Blais

At the top of my favorite films ever. Every time I watch it is see something new. Bandits steal peasants rice. Peasants hire ronin samurai to defend them. Great plot, pace and acting. Akira Kurasawa's best...perhaps.

Filipe Manuel Neto

**Maybe a little overrated, but there's no doubt that it's good.**

Well, I have to start this text with a note that I believe is relevant to understand what I'm going to write: this was the first Japanese film that I remember seeing. I might even be forgetting something I've seen before, but I don't think so. Therefore, I'm not a good connoisseur of Japanese cinema, so I don't want my opinion to be taken with any authority that I don't crave. I know there are people who want that. I do not. I speak, as in any of my reviews, only through my mouth, from the height of my meager wisdom, without pretensions. I may be right about some things, wrong about others, but that's the most normal thing in the world.

I decided to see this film because it was highly recommended and well regarded… everyone said it was a very good film, so I decided to see it for myself. I just finished it, and read a little about the film and its director, the famous Akira Kurosawa. The film is really a work that is above average, but it is not the kind of film that pleases everyone, and it seems to me to be a little overvalued, which results in damage. I say this because I felt, at various times, that the film failed to meet my expectations, as I am quite neutral, that is, I neither love this type of film nor feel repugnance in watching it.

The script takes place, roughly, in the mid-16th century, when Japan was divided into feuds and kingdoms, and there were frequent internecine wars in which the samurai took part. Of course, in such an environment, it is the common people who sacrifice themselves, and the humblest have always been the most susceptible to abuse by the powerful. That's what we have here, with a rural village that is regularly looted and devastated by an armed band until it decides to hire a small group of wandering samurai to help defend it. They achieve this objective, and we are invited to see all the labors that occur in the preparation of the defense, and in the martial training of those peasants.

I'm going to do it differently, and start by saying the aspects that seemed most positive to me. First, it seems to me that Kurosawa is really meticulous in the work he has done and has great affection and respect for his country's traditions and history. Otherwise, one would not understand the effort and money that were tied up in a film with such a historical and cultural load. To what extent did his taste for realism influence European cinema, or vice versa? I'm sure there are film students who have discussed this. What I can guarantee is the commitment to realism, visible, for example, in the extraordinary design of the sets and costumes, and in the static cinematography, very elegant and sharp. The script is quite solid, and gives us an extraordinarily credible story and very well-built and striking characters. I don't know the actors well, but I think Toshiro Mifune deserves applause for the commitment and work he has done here. He is an actor who naturally captures our attention and has a charisma that comes through effortlessly.

On the negative side, however, we also have several aspects to point out, starting with the length of the film, with more than three and a half hours. I'm sorry to say, but I feel that the script didn't justify that much time, and that Kurosawa didn't work the pace well. With a more restricted edition, he would have managed to reduce the film, without much loss, to two hours, and make it less heavy and exhausting. We don't need to see every village debate or every military training shenanigans. I also didn't like the attempts at humor introduced in the film. They just weren't funny at all. The excessive predictability of the story told also turns out to be a defect. I also didn't like the virtual absence of a soundtrack. I've seen that in other films, and I've never been particularly fond of that stylistic device.

I must begin by saying I am a bit "attention deficit" and that I never thought I would like subtitles, but this film flows through its long length with such adventure that I don't see how anyone can keep from being entranced with every second.
And it takes a lot to hold my interest.
In case you haven't heard, this "magnificent seven samurai" so to speak, are enlisted one by one to aid a village beset by 40 bandits.
What is often lost is that the story is really "Four villagers". Two are village elders (although not as old as the "grandpa" character they look to for advice). One, Manzo, represents the conservative element that in our era might be called "Republican", and the other, Mosuke, represents the liberal or "Democrat" policy. The other two are Yohei, a man full of fear who thinks Manzo's policies will protect him; and Rikiki, the boldest villager who is more in tune with Mosuke. Indeed, Rikiki might qualify as the "eighth samurai" as the film progresses.
There are so many wonderful subplots and so muuch excitement even when there is no action, that there's never a dull moment. 
The samurai also have their ups and downs. Toshiro Mifune is not the leader, but he is the soul. He is much like Rikiki. 
There is humor throughout that is perfectly timed, and much tragedy. I think it is Kurosawa's masterpiece, and he is one of the most respected directors of all time.

Maybe the greatest movie of all-time. This film is an epic accomplishment of long-form storytelling, amazing performances, wonderful camera work and fantastic sets. As is typical of Kurosawa, this movie attacks the theme of greed and is very willing to critically examine the high-status classes, in this case the "honourable" samurai. The characters are likeable for the most and the performance from Toshiro Mifune is absolutely masterful and his character is a brilliantly comic tragic character. The action is very raw with mud and rain and chaos, which I appreciate. The pacing in the middle is ever so slightly slow but it really doesn't detract from this utterly brilliant masterpiece.

Seven Samurai( 1954)

The Mighty Warriors Who Became the Seven National Heroes of a Small Town.

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A review by Andres Gomez

Written by Andres Gomez on Wed Oct 23 2013

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