Acclaimed worldwide! A legendary Japanese film that influenced all kinds of content! Toshiro Mifune, the only one acting like a Disney character, is hilarious in 'Seven Samurai: New 4K Remastered Edition'
[Personal Satisfaction]
Ranking of 2025 Japanese films watched: 33/100
Ranking of 'Morning Movie Festival 15' films watched: 7/15
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★
Visuals: ★★★★★
Music: ★★★★☆
Want to watch in a theater: ★★★★★
[Work Information]
Original Title: -
Production Year: 2025 (Original version 1954)
Country of Origin: Japan
Distributor: Toho
Running Time: 207 minutes
Genre: Action
Source material, etc.: None
Official Website: https://7samurai.asa10eiga.jp/
[Synopsis]
*Quoted from the official website.
The Sengoku period. A village, desperate from repeated raids by bandits, decides to "hire samurai" for defense. However, there were no samurai willing to accept a request that offered neither honor nor reward, only enough food to eat.
One day, the farmers meet Kambei (Takashi Shimura), who saved a child taken hostage. After careful consideration, Kambei decides to help.
After a painstaking search for samurai, seven diverse warriors assemble—.
[Impressions]
At the "Morning Movie Festival 15." A legendary Japanese film released in 1954 that has influenced countless works to this day has been released as a new 4K remaster. This film is highly acclaimed all over the world; looking at Wikipedia, it was ranked 1st in the "100 Best Foreign Language Films of All Time" announced by the BBC in 2018, and 7th in the "100 Best Films of All Time." Given that reality, it might not be an exaggeration to call it the pinnacle of Japanese cinema. As someone born in Japan, it is a film you absolutely must see before you die.
<A work that is just too extraordinary>
This film, I think, is so groundbreaking that it would be considered exceptional even by today's standards, let alone for a Japanese film of that time. The running time is an unusual 207 minutes for a Japanese film, and there is an intermission in the middle. I've only experienced this with some Western or Indian films, but they pulled it off in a Japanese film over 70 years ago. Furthermore, the production cost was about seven times the budget per film at the time, and filming took nearly a year. The scale is just too different. I doubt such a project would get the green light today. And yet, being a period drama in black and white, it might be a high hurdle for modern audiences to watch. This is my fourth time watching it in a theater, but I was hesitant before watching it for the first time. However, once you watch it, you get completely hooked on the charm of this film.
<Fighting together across class differences>
The story begins with a village desperate from bandit raids deciding to hire samurai as helpers. However, the poor village cannot pay, and there are few samurai willing to accept a request where they only get enough food to eat. In such a situation, only Kambei (Takashi Shimura) accepts the request after careful consideration, seeing that the villagers only eat millet themselves so they can feed the samurai. From there, the story follows the gathering of seven samurai, including Kambei, who overcome the friction caused by class differences to cooperate with the villagers and intercept the bandits.
<Kikuchiyo's unconventional character is too intense>
The highlight of this film is the unique characters of the seven samurai, but the most impressive one is definitely Kikuchiyo, played by Toshiro Mifune. He is the only one with a comicality that is pure Disney character. His expressions, lines, and gestures are exactly like the Mickey and Donald short film series I watched when I was a child. Toshiro Mifune, who was the most handsome and physically largest of the cast, stands out tremendously because he does things like that. At first glance, he seems out of place, but the fact that he plays a role that adds spice to the story makes me take my hat off to the sense of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune for creating such a character over 70 years ago. Considering the production era, the staff and cast at the time could have watched Disney short films, but since it's all Toshiro Mifune's acting plan, it's probably unrelated...?
<Kyuzo, who does exactly what needs to be done even when silent, is the coolest>
Another person I want to recommend is Kyuzo, played by Seiji Miyaguchi. Although he is the smallest of the seven, his movements are the sharpest, and his sword fighting is beautiful. He is silent and doesn't say much, but when a strategy is being planned, he is the first to say, "I'll go," sneaks into enemy territory, and always returns with results. It was a role that was a textbook example of "don't move your mouth, move your hands," and it was incredibly cool. I think his swordsmanship is the best among the seven, but it seems that Seiji Miyaguchi himself had no experience in kendo at all (laughs).
<And so>
As it is counted as one of the most famous Japanese films in the world, it is a film you definitely want to see at least once before you die. With the new 4K remaster, the picture and sound have become even clearer and easier to watch. Even so, there are still some parts where the dialogue is a little hard to hear, but that also feels like the flavor of a classic. Such an influential Japanese film may never be born again, neither before nor after. It is a film I am truly proud of as a Japanese person.