Seven Samurai...(poss. spoilers for any crazy folk who ain't seen it!)

[cayman shen]

"Kagemusha" is another one of my favourites:

IMDb - Kagemusha (1980)

I've yet to watch "Ran" though.


Kevin

Ran is good, but as far as his Shakespeare adaptations go I've gotta cast my vote for Throne of Blood. It's slower and highly stylized (a modern noh play, essentially), but I prefer Macbeth to Lear, so that's my bias.

Some Kurosawa critics think Red Beard and Dersu Uzala are too overt, simplistic, perhaps even preachy, but I find them both extremely uplifting.

Of the ones I've seen (Ikiru, Seven Sam., Throne of Blood, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Hidden Fortress, Dersu U., Red Beard, Kagemusha, Ran, and Dreams...I think that's it...), I've only disliked two (Dreams and Sanjuro, though I may give Sanjuro a few more opportunities to grow on me).

I actually rewatched Kagemusha this summer; I hadn't seen it in years. There's a lot going on below the surface in that one. A lot to think about. Beautifully written (and directed, naturally!)

 

[SSgt Burton]

I prefer Macbeth to Lear

Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play!

I haven't seen "Throne of Blood" either, so I'll be all over that! Actually "The Hidden Fortress" and "Yojimbo" are the only other Kurosawa films I've watched.


Kevin

 

[nick daring]

I don't mind "screw samurai". Maybe the translator really felt that was the best way to put across that moment. Not knowing Japanese there might be that crass informality to the phrase "the damned samurai" didn't put across correctly. Especially so if you enjoyed the rest of the translation so much.

Just being a devil's advocate here. Translation is a tricky bird.

Nick

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

^Good point. I suppose with me being British it just sounds a bit too specifically contemporary American. Nothing against American idioms, just don't want to be put in mind of America too much while visiting 16th century Japan! However, I do see that for Americans, it wouldn't necessarily be a distraction at all, but to a non-American it may come over as a bit too modern America-specific. For the UK audience a more crass vulger translation might be 'you bloody samurai' or 'bugger you, samurai', but then this last one sounds too UK- specific to me. I wanna be in Japan not Yorkshire! So, yeah, tricky business, translation, definitely.

So I'm missing 17 whole minutes of the film. Wow!

 

[blip]

Quiz.

How many other films or TV episodes can you name using this storyline?

 

[cayman shen]

Mag. Seven, Bug's Life, Wolves of the Calla (book), and a Clone Wars ep. are all I know.

Kevin, Throne of Blood adds one ingenius piece of motivation to Macbeth's murder of his friend Banquo. I won't spoil it though

 

[nick daring]

Bug's life, Galaxy Quest and Three Amigos all are adaptations with the same "mistaken identity" twist to the classic plot.

Batle Beyond the Stars.

Madmax 2/Road Warrior is the one man version.

Wikipedia article says that Seven Samurai was one of the first movie where the plot revolves around collect a team of people for a mission. If that's true then a crap load of heist "mission" movies owe a lot to Seven Samurai.

In a bizarre way, we wouldn't have Armageddon if it weern't for Seven Samurai.

Nick

 

[blip]

I never connected Galaxy Quest before.

In the Seven Samuari, there was a scene where the young man and woman get to know eachother, it's in a lush spot by a river, I've always thought how perfect that shot would have been in color.

Come to think of it, that particular sub plot really demonstrated his mastery of mood. The shot above also surprised me. It's like the director is having a little joke about how the curves of a woman are nothing but trouble to men.

 

[nick daring]

Hey it's the young guy from thinking about killing and dying. Not all bad.

Nick

 

[terryr]

Don't forget Runaway Train. Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. He could never get funding and it was done by others. You can still see his touch.
If it was filmed in Japan it would be called another one of his masterpieces.

I'm amazed it never made back its money. On the original release anyway.

Runaway Train (1985) - IMDb

Excellent performances by Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, and others.

 

[cayman shen]

Nick, it's funny you mention the Road Warrior. I always thought of that as a classic western (hell, they even circle up the "wagons") but there was so much cross-pollination of the western and samurai films that the lines blur entirely in some cases (Yojimbo being perhaps the most obvious) and my objection might be completely academic. It's neat to look at how westerns influenced samurai films...which then influenced westerns...which then influenced things like Road Warrior.

 

[nick daring]

Yeah, a very incestual relationship at this point. Impossible to seperate the influence from one another.

Nick

 

[Raza Crew]

Once had a guy argue with me that Seven Samurai was inspired by Magnificent Seven.

:confused

 

[cayman shen]

Once had a guy argue with me that Seven Samurai was inspired by Magnificent Seven.

:confused

Bet fifty bucks he's wrong and take the dumb ass to wikipedia :lol

 

[SSgt Burton]

Kevin, Throne of Blood adds one ingenius piece of motivation to Macbeth's murder of his friend Banquo. I won't spoil it though

Thanks! On my "Movies to Buy" list now!


Kevin

 

[blip]

Do you think George Lucas managed to get Kurosawa's sense of humour into Star Wars IV?

Here's a good link I found. Good comparison pictures between the two films.

The Secret History of Star Wars

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

What's Star Wars IV? You mean Star Wars? lol...I think he got something of it, yeah... (though the SW humour obviously comes from other places too, notably screwball comedy in the sparring between Han and Leia)

He certainly managed to get the line 'We were born to suffer. It's our lot in life' out of Samurai and into SW.

 

[blip]

Before I knew anything about Kurosawa, I was flicking through TV stations one day and came across the scene from the Hidden Fortress, the one where the two slaves are running down some huge steps - trying to avoid a massive battle. The banter between the two seemed straight out of Star Wars. I couldn't figure out how I was getting that Star Wars vibe while watching an old black and white Japanese film.

 

[Apollo]

It was not released widely, I saw it in a "Art" house theatre.

Great Movie!!

Don't forget Runaway Train. Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. He could never get funding and it was done by others. You can still see his touch.
If it was filmed in Japan it would be called another one of his masterpieces.

I'm amazed it never made back its money. On the original release anyway.

Runaway Train (1985) - IMDb

Excellent performances by Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, and others.

 

[terryr]

Yeah, it is.

I just read it was going to have Karen Allen, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Bridges, but all three backed out. Berenger did Platoon.

But the casting worked for me. Before I saw it I thought 'Jon Voight as a tough guy?' but it worked.