A frantic farming community, having overheard local marauders' plans for a post-harvest raid, hires a band of masterless samurai for protection. As strategies are hatched and strongholds fortified, we get to know both villagers and warriors on a close, personal level, uncovering their stories as the seasons change and invasion grows imminent.
Legend has it that Kurosawa went far above and beyond in fleshing out this cast, composing detailed family trees and personality profiles for each of the hundred-plus roles to help his actors (even the extras) get under their characters' skin. That level of crazy hyper-focus is indicative of the whole production, which vastly overstepped its budget and shot for nearly four times longer than originally scheduled, but the results can't be denied.
Seven Samurai is a justifiably revered classic, a prototype for the modern action movie (not to mention a roadmap for the entire western genre), and a rich portrait of a very specific time and cultural relationship in Japanese history. It may linger too long - there's definitely still some fat on the bone in the two-hundred minute theatrical cut - but the extra quiet time with important characters pays off in the dramatic, joltingly conclusive, final conflict.
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2020-06-25T14:43:25Z
A frantic farming community, having overheard local marauders' plans for a post-harvest raid, hires a band of masterless samurai for protection. As strategies are hatched and strongholds fortified, we get to know both villagers and warriors on a close, personal level, uncovering their stories as the seasons change and invasion grows imminent.
Legend has it that Kurosawa went far above and beyond in fleshing out this cast, composing detailed family trees and personality profiles for each of the hundred-plus roles to help his actors (even the extras) get under their characters' skin. That level of crazy hyper-focus is indicative of the whole production, which vastly overstepped its budget and shot for nearly four times longer than originally scheduled, but the results can't be denied.
Seven Samurai is a justifiably revered classic, a prototype for the modern action movie (not to mention a roadmap for the entire western genre), and a rich portrait of a very specific time and cultural relationship in Japanese history. It may linger too long - there's definitely still some fat on the bone in the two-hundred minute theatrical cut - but the extra quiet time with important characters pays off in the dramatic, joltingly conclusive, final conflict.