Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple.

Review #2493: Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple.

Cast: 

Toshiro Mifune (Miyamoto Musashi), Kōji Tsuruta (Sasaki Kojirō), Mariko Okada (Akemi), Kaoru Yachigusa (Otsu), Michiyo Kogure (Dayū Yoshino), Mitsuko Mito (Okō, Akemi's mother), Akihiko Hirata (Seijūrō Yoshioka), Daisuke Katō (Tōji Gion), Kurōemon Onoe (priest Takuan (Takuan Sōhō), Sachio Sakai (Matahachi Honiden), Yū Fujiki (Denshichirō Yoshioka), Machiko Kitagawa (Kogure), Eiko Miyoshi (Osugi, Matahachi's mother), and Eijirō Tōno (Shishido Baiken) Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (#2173 - Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto)

Review: 

Sure, let's do another samurai movie. You might remember Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954) utilized the epic novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa (about the life and deeds of swordsman Miyamoto Musashi) for a worthwhile film that obviously had to keep going. A variety of people returned to do this film ranging from its director in Hiroshi Inagaki and its writer Tokuhei Wakao (who co-wrote the last one with Inagaki as based on a play by Hideji Hojo), its assistant director in Jun Fukuda and select members of its cast. You get some action pretty quickly in the film with the opening that sees the kusarigama (a chain-sickle) get used up before one sees the lead engage himself in self-development while also trying to take on a school of swordsmanship. One year later saw the release of Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island, which I take it will surely have an involving duel between Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō, who apparently was described as the toughest opponent he ever faced (of course all of this happens before Musashi even turned 30, because the actual man ended up dying in 1645 in his sixties, in a cave, from what might have been lung cancer).

Sure, you might wonder where the path of enlightenment comes from for a movie that involves a good deal of slashing. Well, there is meant to be a path for the pilgrims who wish to learn the ways of what a samurai are besides thinking it means to turn people into dead slabs (it doesn't involve blood, but in fairness, it was the 1950s). Mifune is now going through the road of stoicism that basically reveals that the road of honor and respect can be a very tenuous one when nobody plays exactly to the rules. There are no easy solutions to growing up as a person beyond actually doing it. Everyone has their own murky intentions because no one is defined by just being someone in somewhere. It just so happens that committing to fight one man ends up being a confrontation with a school because of other people's waylaid views. Mifune is about as good in stoic conviction, mainly because you get the idea pretty quickly that his destiny is going to go down to his choices of seeing himself beyond who he thinks he is and to actually realize it. One respects things in nature and life without becoming reliant on them, I suppose. Tsuruta makes for a solidly addition to the proceedings, curious in his maneuvering at least when compared to the drama played out by returners such as Yachigusa (okay there's also another going after him and a whole thing about other returners, but I think you get the idea). The opening battle sequence is there to show that the journey isn't getting better at swordplay, because anybody can go with swords when they are young. The ambushes that are shown in the film are pretty interesting for the time period, and in general you get a movie that allows its final sequences to breathe on their own in what is past and what is to come. As a whole, Samurai II continues the journey of its one curious samurai with plenty of energy and interest in making a journey of fulfillment come around with enough fun beyond looking at things as just moving through the next blade movement. It sets the stage for what is to come in the next film in setting how the journey has gone in learning and seeing beyond the trappings of period and action dramas for a pretty good time.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Seven Samurai.

Review #1385: Seven Samurai.

Cast: 
Toshirô Mifune (Kikuchiyo), Takashi Shimura (Kambei Shimada), Keiko Tsushima (Shino), Isao Kimura (Katsushiro Okamoto), Daisuke Katō (Shichirōji), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyūzo), Yoshio Inaba (Gorōbei Katayama), Minoru Chiaki (Heihachi Hayashida), Kamatari Fujiwara (Manzō), Kokuten Kōdō (Gisaku), Yoshio Tsuchiya (Rikichi), Eijirō Tōno (Thief), and Yoshio Kosugi (Mosuke) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (#968 - Throne of Blood)

Review: 
"I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can’t people be happier together?"

"Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding."

It is easy to say this one of the greatest films of all time when you know how great its director is. You don't need me to tell you that this is a masterpiece of massive importance and influence to film everywhere around the world, a gem of the golden age of Japanese cinema. And yet here we are, still talking about how one could make such a grand epic in terms of direction, writing (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni), and editing, which Kurosawa was responsible for. Kurosawa grew up with encouragement from family and teachers for drawing and education alongside film and theater through his brother Heigo, who worked as a silent film narrator before committing suicide in 1933. At the age of 25, he was hired by P.C.L as an assistant director. He started his work with Shojo Hanazono (1936) and worked for five years as a third/chief assistant director for 25 films. He made his debut with Toho's Sanshiro Sugata (1943), which proved successful enough to merit a sequel two years later. In a career that spanned five decades, Kurosawa made 30 feature films, with several of his works proving iconic for world cinema, such as Rashomon (1950), one of the first major hits for Japanese cinema, Dersu Uzala (1975), a Soviet-Japanese production that won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Ran (1985), which was his last epic. It should only figure that a great director has a great star to go with him, which is the case with Mifune, who collaborated with Kurosawa in sixteen films over seventeen films. He had gotten his start in the film industry with the ambition of being in the photography department. As it turned out, Toho soon needed new faces to find due to a labor dispute, and Mifune was one of numerous talents auditioning. Kurosawa, hearing about the prospect of a promising actor, found himself transfixed by the violent frenzy displayed by Mifune, later equating it to like watching a wounded beast trying to escape. Mifune found himself with his first role in Snow Trail (1947) and then his first film with Kurosawa in Drunken Angel the following year. Mifune would go on to a distinguished career in several countries before his death at the age of 77.

At three hours and 27 minutes, it is Kurosawa's longest film along with being his greatest success. One knows fairly quickly than this is going to be a grand experience from the level of detail one sees right away, since this is a beautiful film in terms of its cinematography (Asakazu Nakai) along with its music (Fumio Hayasaka) to go with effective editing from its director, who would edit late at night during shooting (as opposed to later in the studio) through the use of multiple cameras. He had sets constructed for the film when it came to the village in the belief that the quality of the sets influences the quality of the acting. The writing process took 45 day, with Mifune's role as the seventh samurai being the crucial addition made to liven up what was felt to be a bore with six. A year was spent on the production of the film, with plenty of rain for the crew to deal with and a climatic battle sequence that was filmed in snowy conditions. In any case, this is a film that resonates likes visual poetry, where no scene or character seem detrimental to its enjoyment while utilizing its immense time to build immense atmosphere and tension that make its final battle all the more worth it. Mifune, tasked with improvisation as the rogue among the others, is perfectly in his element here, delivering an energetic and compelling performance wrapped in intensity in every scene he is in. Shimura proves just as adept with leading this group of outsiders with weary skill and class. Tsushima and Kimura make for a quiet coupling, careful in chemistry that follows along with the accompanying buildup to the inevitable. The rest of the samurai cast prove just as skilled with generating interest in honor among outsiders, whether through charm or resilience. The villagers, such as Fujiwara and Kodo, lend credit to the desperation and resentment that comes from dealing with samurai, filled with class differences. There are plenty of scenes one can highlight from this film, such as the first burial sequence, where Mifune's intensity over a somber scene mourning a dead comrade leads him to make his way to a rooftop and plant the makeshift flag made to represent them and the land. Or perhaps one will find highlight in the downpour for the climax, which is swift and riveting in its composition to view. It is a film of such discipline from a director who wants to show the heroic ideal within tragedy that rewards its viewer with something to think about alongside great entertainment.

It is obvious to note that the film had plenty of admirers that led to inspiration for filmmakers. The most immediate one that comes to mind is The Magnificent Seven (1960), which Kurosawa viewed as entertaining along with disappointing as a non-version of his film. Plenty of films have taken to task the idea of assembling a team to defend a land from danger in the years since, and this is the key link to said films, whether acknowledged or not. There existed various versions of the film differing on length. For example, the release in America and the UK cut were nearly an hour shorter than the original due to Toho's belief that audiences would not want to sit through such a long film. Nowadays you can find the film in its original pristine version, and this is the easiest recommendation I can make for a film as legendary and entertaining as this one proves to be. It is certainly one of Akira Kurosawa's greatest achievements along with one of the best films of its time that stands for all time in all that it has inspired in over six decades since its release.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars