Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai (1954)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Writers: Akira Kurosawa

Cast:

Takashi Shimura
Toshiro Mifune
Yoshio Inaba
Seiji Miyaguchi
Minoru Chiaki
Daisuke Kato
Isao Kimura
Keiko Tsushima
Yoshio Tsuchiya

Running Time: 207 Minutes

Seven Samurai is the epic tale of a mountain farming village who after numerous attacks by well arm bandits in the past, have fallen on the hardest of times. While collecting sticks one of the Villagers overhears the Bandits plan on coming back when harvest has arrived and taking the village by storm for all their food resources. The villagers decide to take action and plan on hiring Samurai to help them in defense. Since the villagers are too poor to pay them with money, they will need to find Samurai who will live on no money but food as their wage. The villagers will go through the trials and tribulations of what it takes to convince samurai of such a worthless cause and what it takes to come together and fend of thy enemies in battle and save the village from again falling on difficult times.

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is the first film I've seen from this director, the film can only be described as epic, heroic and legendary. Seven Samurai once viewed is now understood why critics and film goers alike consider this film as one of the greatest films ever made. Back in 1954 this film would have been revolutionary in every sense of the word. After viewing this and sitting through it once for the film itself and both Audio Essays, I personally believe and what I took away from this movie was that it is the original action picture. I have seen many action films and after witnessing Seven Samurai you can clearly see that this has influenced many of today's action directors. We are witnesses to slow motion battles, epic battles and even the scene wipes that are used in the Star Wars films. This will forever be one of the staples in action cinema.

Firstly, what I want to get out of the way is what I didn't enjoy about this movie. The film while being for the most part near perfect is at times a trial to watch. Coming straight into something so beloved around the world and hearing nothing but praise is a hard thing on me in regards to expecting nothing less then perfection. What I got was about ninety five percent faultlessness and the other five percent was me trying to handle what was being shown on screen. Seven Samurai was at times a little boring and a trial to watch like mentioned before. The running time comes in at a whopping three and a half hours and I wasn't expecting to like all of it. So when I finished the film and liked it for the most part I was shocked that I had enjoyed it that much, I almost hate myself for not loving that extra five percent and realizing the full potential of Seven Samurai but not everyone is going to love everything one hundred percent.

Seven Samurai while being a blockbuster action film is only the surface of this film. Besides action and carnage scattered through out the film, we are witnesses to something that could be considered art. Seven Samurai is just radiant. The film looks stunning for it's time. Akira Kurosawa has crafted something so breathtakingly beautiful it's hard not to love every shot of this film. I could only wonder what this would look like had it been done in color. The Burning down of the village and the Bandits hideout looked stunning in black and white but to wonder what color would have done for this film makes my mouth water, Akira could be considered one of the greatest artists with some of the shots that he has given us with Seven Samurai and I'm basing that comment after only seeing one film from this director.

The acting in Seven Samurai is fantastic. Takashi Shimura as our wise and oldest Samurai gives a subtle performance for the first half and an epic swordsman who you can class as an original action hero in the second half of the film. Toshiro Mifune is the clown of the Samurai clan, he is likeable in most respects but at times I found myself wanting to see him just be more mature but in his heroic scenes he is a force to be reckoned with. Yoshio Inaba is also a clown type character, he is the joke teller but once in battle he becomes an action star in his own right. Seiji Miyaguchi is an older Samurai and like Shimura he is subtle in his performance but once the final comes around he is a true hero and lastly Isao Kimura starts off as the boy who wants to become a Samurai and by the end you want to see him become one. The acting was Oscar worthy in Seven Samurai and hopefully they all got some recognition for there roles in Seven Samurai because they deserve it.

Lastly Seven Samurai is a movie that no matter how much I say about it or don't it seems that I can't even begin to scratch the surface at what a work of art it is. Being a first time Akira Kurosawa watcher I can only say that from character to screenplay, set design to action, direction to acting it is almost a perfect film. The film in almost every respect is a masterpiece and as this is the only film of Akira Kurosawa's I've seen I can see why critics and the film going public love it. It is one of the most epic action blockbusters I've witnessed and I can now see what kind of influence it has had on the modern action film. If there are films that need to be witnessed this is one of those films. Don't give up the chance to see this film. It will be worth your time.


NOTABLE SCENES:

- Chapter Three: Shopping For Samurai: This sequence comes early on in the film and is a simple scene, it is the villagers trying to find Samurai who will take them up on their food only for protection of their village offer. The scene is cut in a way that has many cuts done to the scene but it makes the scene fast paced and it is one of the best looking sequences in the film.

- Chapter Four: Death Of A Thief: Our first signs of Kambei and Kikuchiyo and it is the first time we see the master known as Kambei in battle. The battle is a thief and only one man who has kidnapped a baby, we see Kambei burst into a home and hear noises coming from inside the shack, the thief comes running out in a brilliant slow motion set piece only to fall down dead when we realize he has had a sword make contact with his back.

- Chapter Ten: False Alarm: The first sign of Kikuchiyo being the clown. Not only does he scare an entire village in an uproar of hysteria and panic, he manages to piss of the rest of the Samurai. A comedic scene that is one of the funniest highlights in this action epic.

- Chapter Eleven: Making Plans: A scene that is another simple scene but one of the best scenes just based on the subject alone. We see our Samurai making up a map of the village with every possible way into this village and in the Samurai's own words "How Would You Attack This Village". We see the entire planning going into putting up walls and ways to stop the bandits from getting entry into the village, Simple yet rewarding in regards to story telling.

- Chapter Twenty One: The Surprise Attack: The surprise attack on the bandits hideout is one of the biggest action set pieces in the film besides the final battle that wages towards the end of the film. Sword play, gun fire and a set being burnt to the ground rounds out this scene. One of the best action sequences in the film and one that wont be forgotten due to a shocking conclusion.

- Chapter Twenty Three: The First Battle: This to me is the final battle. It rages for over an hour and goes over eight chapters. One of the longest battle sequences put on film in my eyes. We have so much sword play, horse chases, gun play, vicious violence and attacks, shocking deaths and much more, it rounds out the film on a spectacle that would have been mind blowing in 1954 and in today's standards it is still seen as one of the greatest action sequences ever put on film.


EXTRAS:

- Film Scholars Commentary: The first commentary that is available with this release is the Film Scholars commentary. The commentary is split up into five, forty minute segments and each scholar says what they know about Seven Samurai. This commentary was one of the most rewarding supplements on the DVD and all opinions on Seven Samurai seem to be one of kindness and they all agree that Seven Samurai is a masterpiece.

- Japanese Film Expert Commentary: Michael Jeck had to be one of the most annoying commentaries I've had the displeasure of sitting through. He not only repeats what's going on, on the screen for three and a half hours but tries to add little things into the commentary to make himself sound like he knows what he is talking about. He also puts the film down on occasion which is his right to opinion but it's almost like he is saying he could do it better, I highly doubt it. It's just not needed and anyone would have been better to listen to then this guy.

- Akira Kurosawa: It's Wonderful To Create: This fifty minute making of is a making of like no other. It feels as if Criterion pulled everything together and gave us a making of that wont be long forgotten. Even ending on a sad note with the death of Akira Kurosawa it just explains everything you'd want to know in a making of, we get intimate interviews with actors and people who worked on this film, nice stills, good clips and much, much more. A rewarding making of that is worth your fifty minutes of time.

- My Life In Cinema: This two hour interview is one that is mellow and a devoted interview with Akira Kurosawa. Watching this interview gives us an account of everything this man was and will forever remember being, he explains about his early start in film, troubles with the studio's, Creating his own studio, childhood and much, much more. This interview that was filmed for the Directors Guild of Japan in 1993 is one that showed the master up close and personal. It is just a fine example of how to show someone like Akira Kurosawa in such a way that lets us get to the bottom of what we think is this grand director and a great supplement for any fan of Kurosawa.

- Seven Samurai: Origins And Influences: This fifty five minute documentary is about the way of the samurai and what influenced Kurosawa in his movie Seven Samurai. The documentary goes on to show what kind of figures Samurai are and all topics related to the way of the Samurai. We are given many different explanations as to what these people think a Samurai is and was and the interviews that are on display are from the Film Scholars Commentary. Putting a name to the face made this a rewarding documentary. One for Seven Samurai fans and Samurai lovers in general.

- Seven Samurai Booklet: What a great addition to this three disc package. We get a fifty six page booklet that contains stills and essays from film historians on all subjects related to this film. We even get an interview with Toshiro Mifune one of the main actors from Seven Samurai. I found his interview the most rewarding. More Booklets like this should be included in DVD Packages.

- Trailers + Teaser: We are given three trailers. The first being lengthy in regards to how long trailers are these days. This four minute trailer was a great addition, same goes for the second trailer. The teaser and final trailer are just your run of the mill trailer and teaser. Nothing new is added to them that we haven't already seen in the other two trailers. Still a rewarding supplement and is better then most of the trailer extras that are given to us on DVD's these days.

- Production Gallery: A behind the scenes image gallery is the first of the galleries on offer, to me this gallery is just still on the set. Nothing I hadn't already seen before. The second and final gallery is the poster art from around the world. If you're like me and love poster art then this gallery is a winner. I love nothing more then viewing the different poster art from around the world. It's great to see the different countries interpretation on what they think will look great for Seven Samurai. Some strange, some amazing. A decent collection of posters from around the world.

- Color Bars: You already know my disliking for Color Bars as a supplement. It's a stupid extra that hopefully isn't included on everyone of the DVD's in this fantastic series. All up though the supplements get a ten out of ten from me. One of the best packages I've seen release for a film.

RATING: 9 out of 10

SPINE: 2

Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion (1937)

Director: Jean Renoir

Writer: Jean Renoir

Cast:

Jean Gabin
Dita Parlo
Pierre Fresnay
Erich von Stroheim
Julien Carette
Georges Peclet
Werner Florian
Jean Daste
Marcel Dalio
Gaston Modot

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Grand Illusion is the story of two French officers who are shot down and captured during the first World War. They are sent and stationed in various German POW camps to live out the remainder of their days. It's here that they are introduced to the fellow prisoners of various backgrounds that they are to be imprisoned with. The goal of these men are too bide their time and come up with a plan of escaping there confines and getting back to a normal existence that they use to have before being captured and placed in these camps.

Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion isn't a war film that most people would have come to relish in today's society with high amounts of brutal violence and patriotism that is stuffed down the throat of every viewer who is willing to take part in a Hollywood produced war film. Jean Renoir instead takes an approach to war and prison camps like no other, he stakes his claim with Grand Illusion at creating one of the most offbeat War themed films ever made. What essentially could have been a more dramatic film in terms of the themes flowing through Grand Illusion comes off as a masterpiece in the circumstances of turning a subject like this on it's head and executing it with ease. Jean Renoir only deserves the highest amount of praise for his effort with this film.

My interpretation of Grand Illusion is that even in the horrors of war and imprisonment there is a bond like no other, this bond is friendship which can strive amongst the greatest of bonds and outweigh the worst of situations. We are subjected early on in this movie to friendship and it is a theme that runs rampant in this film. The film never lets you forget two things, this is friendship can survive the harshest of environments and the plan of escape that they will see through to the very end. Grand Illusion through out it's running time only borders on the darker themes for a moment and diverts right back to it's lighter side and this is what makes it offbeat, instead of being a horrific tale of war it shows the softer side which amounts to much of why the film is humorous and at times laugh out loud funny, which is rare for this type of film.

The actors involved in this film are fantastic. They all convey performances worthy of praise, Jean Gabin the leading man is an actor I've never heard of before until watching Grand Illusion, it's stated in the Audio Essay that the man has brought tears to peoples eyes in some performances because of his great acting talent, I haven't witnessed it yet but in Grand Illusion he delivers a performance that I think could have won him an Oscar. Erich Von Stroheim as the flamboyant Captain von Rauffenstein never really delivers the performance you'd see intended for the villain of the film but Grand Illusion is intended to be offbeat and his performance is one of immense talent. Pierre Fresnay delivers a stiff performance with hints of Peter Sellers in terms of looks, his performance is of the subtle kind and is worth the watch. Lastly Dita Parlo the only older female role in the film shows a gracious and sincere performance that made me fall in love with her character.

Being the first Jean Renoir film I've had the pleasure of witnessing, I can safely say the man knows how to direct a fantastic looking movie. Grand Illusion is not epic in the sense of the word but while being at most times in a confined space or smaller set Jean Renoir is able to lift above these modest shots and bring us something quite spectacular. Renoir can direct quite the tracking shot and Grand Illusion has many moments that show his talent and eye for cinema. Once out in the open and we are shown more landscapes, Renoir is still able to bring a beauty to this film. The final moments in the snow covered mountains looked incredible.

Finally Grand Illusion from the poster is one of those movies that can be described as "Looks Can Be Deceiving" which would also make a great tagline. I mean this in the utmost respect, what looks like a war film at first is a completely different type of war film. It throws all war elements out the window and while POW camp themes are felt in this film, the film never shows the horrors that are behind the camp, instead going for a playful side and being pure entertainment. I can see why this film is loved around the world. It is a movie worth watching and deserves the critic acclaim that it's received over the decades.


NOTABLE SCENES:

- Chapter Five: Dressing Up: This entire sequence to me felt like it was the most playful arrangement in the entire film, it was when all groups came together and played like children. No separation or differences. It was when the theme of friendship was flowing through the characters and story, all characters working together. Ending on a hilarious note when one of the officers comes out of the dressing room, dressed in women's clothes stopping every other soldier dead in his track.

- Chapter Seven: Putting On A Show: Another comedic sequence in the film that shows all the prisoners having fun. Putting on a show for the other soldiers and Guards, it starts of with a hilarious song and ends with a can-can styled dance, only this time the can-can is performed in drag ending another scene with a Hilarious Moment.

- Chapter Twelve: Preparing The Escape: Possibly the most darkest sequence in the film, mainly the book burning scene, but the escape sequence is the most emotional for reasons I wont ruin, the scene runs into Chapter Thirteen called The Magic Flute and this involves the escape, which in today's standards has the most action on display, a simple yet rewarding scene.


EXTRAS:

- Renoir Intro: Not very rewarding in the sense that if you have already seen the film and the Audio essay you'd have already heard what Renoir explains. What seems like a trailer is just Renoir speaking about his war experiences and giving a comment on each actor. Most rewarding thing about the intro is that you get to see Jean Renoir himself in all his mighty glory.

- Commentary (Audio Essay): Peter Cowie is a film historian who recorded an audio essay for Grand Illusion in 1987. He discusses through out the commentary things about Jean Renoir, The Actors and The Movie Itself, it is an interesting watch in the sense that Film Historians go into much more details then today's directors do, if you love everything about film, the Audio Essay with Peter Cowie is worth a watch. Very Insightful.

- Radio Presentation: Included on the Criterion release is a radio broadcast that you're able to listen too, the live broadcast is from 1938, it was done at the New York Film Critics Awards, it features Jean Renoir and actor Erich von Stroheim as they accept the Best Foreign Language Film Award for Grand Illusion. It's worth the listen hearing the broad cast from 1938, it doesn't add anything new to the films legacy.

- Press Book: Told in four parts on the Criterion release, About The Title, The Lost Camera Negative, Von Stroheim On Renoir and Cast Biographies. The best part of the press book relates to The Lost Camera Negative. We discover that this film was confiscated by the German occupying forces in France during World War II. The film was in a way was saved when confiscated due to an allied raid destroying one of the leading Paris Laboratories that housed film negatives. It's almost hard to hear that Grand Illusion went through so much, being lost, destroyed negatives and much more. But it's a good thing that the real negative was discovered because we have this wonderful film now.

- Restoration: The restoration feature is the most rewarding special supplement in terms of what's on display for the viewer. It shows us what the people at Criterion did to give us the magnificent looking film that we see before us, they have removed all scratches, bad cuts and splicing, blurring, hair, dirt, stains and cigarette burns. A truly wonderful and worthwhile feature.

- Color Bars: A screen with Color Bars is a useless feature on the disc. I'm not too sure why it is even included on a release like this but this deserves the award for dumbest supplement on any DVD I have ever seen.

RATING: 8 out of 10

SPINE: 1

The Journey Begins!

Dear Friends,

Welcome to my first ever entry, this will be the home of my reviews for everything Criterion and Eclipse related, I have wanted to do this for about a year now and since my collection is starting to build, I think it is the right time to start this journey, my journey starts here and will hopefully come to an end when both collections of this ground breaking and I may say so myself "Excellent" endeavor into the far reaches of cinema, it is the only collection of DVD that I know who strive to improve the film knowledge of people like me who are looking to be challenged and shown something not seen in every day cinema.

I believe the Criterion and Eclipse collection will be enough to show me everything mentioned above and more, I will review every single movie and extra that is released with these collections, I will try and bring my film knowledge to my reviews and hopefully wont look like a complete idiot, but this is what I'm doing this for, I want to expand on everything I think I know and be something I admire, which is someone who loves film and wants to know every aspect of the medium and try and challenge themselves with this collection.

I do realize that there is a man by the name of Matthew Dessem on this site who is doing the same thing I am about to Embark on, I just want to say straight up, I am not a copycat or trying to take away from Matthew, I admire him for what he is doing, I can only hope that I am as good as him in the long run, I just want to do what I love doing and that is review films, I am hoping this is my chance to do so and Matthew if you ever see this, I am not trying to copy you, I love your blog and I check up on it all the time, I just thought the comparison which is bound to arise is something I'm putting to a stop before it begins.

Here is the part of the blog where I let you all know a little bit about me, My Name is Paul, I live in Australia and I am 21 Years of age, I love film and have always loved it in some respect, I think in the last six to seven years I have really come into film and started challenging myself as a viewer, before hand you couldn't get me to sit through a film with subtitles, black and white or Art House Cinema, I am disgusted in myself for not catching on earlier but I have grown with my taste and hopefully this blog will take me on a trip worth living.

So to everyone who is like me please feel free to leave comments because I would love to hear from you, I want this not to be a journey just for myself but for the people reading and a good film discussion is a wonderful thing, so keep an eye out for reviews coming soon.

Paul .H.