Recommendations for samurai movies?

[Martok]

I have a deep, dark secret which I'm ashamed to admit: For as much as I love STW, and for as fascinated I've become with medieval Japan in the last 7 years, I've never actually watched any of the classic films covering that time period. Mostly this is because of my own ignorance, as I never knew anyone that was into that type of movie (and so had no one to to make recommendations and/or sit down and watch them with me). What's even worse, however, is that any time Puzz, Tosa, or someone else mentions one of the great samurai films, I completely forget to write it down at the time.

Well now I want to make up for that deficiency. It's way past time that I corrected this lack on my part. So with all that said, what are considered to be the "classic" movies regarding samurai and feudal Japan that I ought to see?

[Tony Furze]

Hello again Martok!

The classic is Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) Directed by Akira Kurosawa:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/

a groundbreaking movie and the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven.

The more recent film The Last Samurai with tom Cruise covers quite alot of similar ground to the game eg the arrival of modern weaponry,

Then RAN is a visual treat. It was Directed by Kurosawa too and released in 1985- I remember seeing it when it came out.

A few more ideas are here:

http://www.amazon.com/TOP-TEN-JAPANE.../384DINEW7H4OX

My..Toshiro Mifune...you re really taking me back...

Ahh also Kagemusha.

[TosaInu]

Hello Martok,

Akira Kurosawa s indeed the man like Tony Furze said. Last Samurai with Tom Cruise isn't that great in my books.

Toshiro Mifune is a great actor. Check out Yojimbo (Mifune and Kurosawa), or Sanjuro. Hidden Fortress and Rashomon are other Mifune/Kurosawa movies too (Kurosawa always being director).

You can also check Hiroshi Inagaki's Mushashi Miyamoto triologiy (Mifune again). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...39N8RJXR7GBPDM

Shogun is also something you should see http://www.amazon.com/James-Clavells.../dp/B0000A2ZNX

[Drisos]

Good thread!

I'll have to remember this one, for when I have time, money, and motivation.

Have fun, Martok!



Oh and Tosa, blown up your postcount again in one of your weird experiments? :P

[Martok]

Thank you for the suggestions, gentlemen.

I do have The Last Samurai, as a matter of fact. But while I do like it -- somewhat -- it definitely lacks....something. It's why I've been meaning to start this topic for a while now, as I felt the need for something "meatier".

[Puzz3D]

Most of the films are expensive to buy, so renting them would be much cheaper if you have access to a rental service such as netflix that has these films. Most if not all of these films are slow moving by western standards, so they require patience to watch them. You also have to read subtitles. Translations don't always convey the correct meaning of the original language, but it goes with the territory if you don't speak the foreign language.

The Seven Samurai (1954) would have to top the list of classics as Tony Furze says. It set the standard for all subsequent Samurai films. The restored version is 207 minutes.

Other Arika Kurosawa Samurai films which are all excellent:

Rashomon (1950) a crime drama about perception of events.
Throne of Blood (1957) Kurosawa's take on Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Hidden Fortress (1958) a tale of adventure.
Yojimbo (1961) a ronin samurai plays both sides of feuding clans aganst each other.
Sanjuro (1962) a ronin samurai uses his skill to correct wrongdoing in this action/comedy adventure.
Kagemusha (1980) is about how the clan handled Takeda Shingen's death. (180 minutes)
Ran (1985) Kurosawa's take on Shakespeare's King Lear. Get the Criterion Edition or the Fox Lorber Masterworks Edition. Avoid the earlier (1998) poor video quality Fox Lorber release.

Some other Samurai films I've seen which I think are either excellent or at least very good:

Samurai I, II, III (1954, 1955, 1956) are about Musashi Miyamoto and already recommended by Tosa.

Harakiri (1962) is about the cruelty of the feudal code towards samurai in peacetime.

Samurai Rebellion (1967) is about the consequences of a moral injustice inflicted by a Daimyo on the son of a prominent member of his clan who has faithfully served the Daimyo for his whole life.

Sword of Doom (1966) is about a samurai who rejects the new social values as the samurai social class declines. It was supposed to be a trilogy, but parts 2 and 3 were never filmed.

Samurai Banners (1969) historical fiction about one of Takeda Shingen's generals, Kansuke Yamamoto. The various clan banners depicted are all historically accurate

Goyokin (1969) classic tale of revenge. The new DVD from Media Blasters has poorly done english subtitles, but good video quality.

Zatochi (1989) This is essentially an over the top action picture, but very entertaining. It is the last of the 26 film Zatochi series featuring Shintarô Katsu as the Blind Swordsman. I've seen the recent The Blind Swordsman: Zatochi (2003), but thought it was too comical.

Heaven and Earth (1990) is about the historical battles between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. Some people find this movie boring. It's out of print and hard to find.

The Twilight Samurai (2002) is a drama about a low level samurai left to care for two daughters and his mother in the late samurai period and a dangerous task that his clan wants him to undertake.

When the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003) deals with a Samurai who is having difficulty supporting his family during the period of the rise of the Emperor and the fall of the Shogun.

The Hidden Blade (2004) drama about a low level samurai and the caste system in late feudal Japan with a sub-plot concerning a boyhood friend involved in the conflict between the Shogunate and the Emperor. The plot is basically the same as The Twilight Samurai, but with more emphasis on romance/drama.

Samurai Fiction (1998) is a satire of classic samurai films. The crew and action choreographer assembled to make this film were veterans of classic samurai films. Watch this one after you've watched some of the B&W classics.

I also have Samurai Assassin (1965) and The Shogun's Samurai (1978) but haven't watched them yet. I have yet to view the six Lone Wolf and Cub films.


Note (16Aug09): added Samurai Rebellion to the list.

[Drisos]

But while I do like it -- somewhat -- it definitely lacks....something.

I liked the action, and the story. Yet some things were a little too much, the greatest heroes as the last ones to die? too much of a coincidence. also, the way how the sow of katsumoto dies, like he was a superman being able to cope with far more then any other samurai.
I love the bigger plot though. I can live with historical incorrectness here and there.

Thanks Puzz3d! Cool post.

[gollum]

Surayuki Hime aka Lady snowblood; Blizzard from the Netherworlds in the english speaking world is another cult Samurai classic.

Its set in the Meiji era (Restoration of the Emperor after the international opening of the country in the 1880s) and features the legendary actress Meiko Kaji in the lead role. Its an amazing film for its genre - Kill Bill is almost entirely based on it and immitates its format, plot and at times even camera settings.

Essentially an action drama with plenty of swordwork and gruesome gore. The main theme is vengeance. A must see.

!it burnsus!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift for a movie about modern samurai.

[gollum]

A commentary in Akira Kurosawas work that was posted above by Puzz3D

To clarify the terms - samurai movies come in two formats;

Chambara movies - are your avergae cut and slash samurai flick. No elaboration or deep meaning is to be found but an artistic play on the mannerism and conventions of the genre as it has been shaped over the years. In fact these movies are responsible for these conventions.

As an antipode to this comes the jidai-geiki movies - period drama - that esentially is a serious piece of work aiming to function in a number of layers; emotional, directorial philosophical and aesthetic.

AK work is of the second category.

Kurosawas work is characterised by strong influences from abroad - most notably John Fords movies. In this respect their storyline and pace are distinctively familiar to western audiences. In fact its unlikely that AK would rose to the fame he did if it wasnt for the appeal of his movies in the west. Japanese audiences often found (and still find) his films estranged of the format, thematology and narrative of the average japanese film.

This is underlined from the fact that Kurosawa often used western novels as plot carriers; in Throne of Blood and RAN Shakespear, in Yojimbo Dashiel Hammets novels and elsewhere Dostoyevski.

Kurosawa was a staunch perfectionist that would have tones of extras along with the cast waiting to catch the precise tone of voice or rain or wind that he envisioned to capture in his films. His work is considered a blueprint in terms of storytelling and you can find the odd *Seven Samurai* immitation film being remade almost every year - among others, the Lord of the Rings trilogy where the *fellowship* was watching Seven Samurai every day to catch the feeling of it, the 13th Warrior (wholesale lifted from SS), Conan the Barbarian (john Milius was a staunch Kurosawa fan), Star Wars (lukas copied Kurosawa stylistically and storywise - see further in the post) and many many others. It is also considered a blueprint in terms of cinematography - his fast cut dynamic style set the standard for action films to the present day. For his significant use of the weather elements to set the tone of a scene and mark turning points in the plot, Kurosawa was nicknamed by his crew *Kaze Otoko*, literally wind-man. Legend has it that when AK met John Ford, Ford told him *you really like rain* to which Kurosawa responded *you really have seen my movies*.

AK is particularly significant for TW fans, especially those that like the original STW. RAN and Kagemusha worked as the inspiration for the game in terms of aesthetics as well as gameplay - in Kagemusha as well as in RAN, men are seen to form in squares that change depth and width, and teppos hide in the woods to protect themself from charging cavalry.

What is not so well known is that the original Star Wars was lifted thematically, aesthetically and storywise from The Hidden Fortress. All the elements are there; the princess that needs to pass through enemy lines, that gets accompanied by a senior samurai in disguise who in turn has a friend on the enemy side that becomes scarred in a duel between them and after being mistreated by his Lord for his defeat he turns *to the dark side*. The most recognisable element though are the peasants the story of which the viewer essentially follows. They were the basis for R2 d2 and C3PO and in fact some the robot/androids lines were word for word from hidden fortress. Another famous quirk of Kurosawas that Lucas *borrowed* was the book page turning like transition method that is used in the Star Wars movies.

Lucas convinced Hollywood to finance the return of Kurosawa in the period drama film (kagemusha) being a fan. Kurosawa had isolated himself during the 70s after a failed film and an attempted suicide and would not get funds from the japanese film industry as he was legendary for going over budget. Essentially at that point AKs career picked up due to support from international and powerful fans like Lukas and Coppola.

Kurosawa had several critics during his lifetime in Japan - other than the avaricious studios and the average viewer, he was not particularly liked by cult directors like Nagisa Oshima that criticised his tale like humanism especially when the cult cinema they represented begun to pick up in the 70s and Kurosawa was in his nadir correspondingly.

His films, in their heyday (1954 to 1965) fashioned an endless stream of innovations and breaking of conventions. Yojimbo is such an example. It was a masqueraded social critique for the post-war corruption of the japanese government that was subject to wealthy industrialists and employed the japanese mafia - the Yakuza to do its dirty work.

Yojimbo featured very realistic special effects for the time to depict violence - the sound of slashing of human flesh was recorded and introduced as well as spirts of blood. Kurosawa had intended the movie to be an attack against the yakuza cult - he hoped to damage it by exposing its dehumanising cruelty, greed and idiocy. However the plan backfired. The Yakuza adopted Yojimbo as its emblem movie that stood up for *traditional* yakuza values. Hence Kurosawas attempt to reverse the situation with the farce comedy follow up Sanjuro.

Kurosawa also in many cases broke conventions to convey his message - typically his *Seven Samurai* are all supremelly practical and down to earth people. They racont to each other how they escaped by hiding in ditches - things that the conventional and fanatical interpretation of the samurai ideal that lead into the 2nd WW attrocities by japanese troops rejected. None of them is interested in social appearances and none likes killing for the sake of it.

Kurosawas work is overall monumental. It defines the Samurai genre, especially for westerners.

!it burnsus!

[Wishazu]

Anyone interested in the life and/or work of Akira Kurosawa should read "The Emperor and the Wolf" by Stuart Galbraith IV

My personal favourites are Throne of Blood, it features my namesake, General Washizu in the role of Macbeth, Hidden Fortress is an epic but lots of fun too and of course Seven Samurai is absolutely superb.

I have to say though that "The Last Samurai" is one of my favourite films of recent years. It is based loosely on the rebellion of Saigo Tagamori. It was nice to see Tom Cruise in a movie that he doesn`t just grin his way through. Awesome action sequences abound, especially the huge fight between the Samurai loyal to Katsumoto and the Ninja`s sent to kill him.

@ Puzz3D, that is an excellent list my friend. Twilight Samurai is a film I have been wanting to see for ages but couldn`t remember the name. Thankyou.

[patdj]

I'm a total noob to samurai movies, haven't even seen The Last Samurai. But if I find the time to start out with that, I will reconsider this post for sure. Thanks a lot!

[patdj]

I just finished watching The Last Samurai. I find it really entertaining and I was rather taken, but I have nothing to compare it with. I just kept wondering why Katsumoto seemed that familiar to me. (Letters from Iwo Jima, Batman Begins (<- !!!))

[caravel]

I've just seen Kagemusha, just a brilliant film. I'd highly recommend it.

[Wishazu]

Agreed

In fact, I have it on DVD but havn`t watched it for a couple of years. I guess i`ll be watching it again sometime this week.

EDIT: I`m actually going to watch it right now!

[Puzz3D]

In fact, I have it on DVD but havn`t watched it for a couple of years. I guess i`ll be watching it again sometime this week.

Which version do you have? It has recently been restored to its original length of 180 minutes by Criterion.

gollum,
Very informative post. Thank you.

[Wishazu]

Which version do you have? It has recently been restored to its original length of 180 minutes by Criterion.

Well I have the 2002 version so i guess i`m missing out on 28 minutes. :( Do you know if there are any plans to release it on Blu-ray?

[Puzz3D]

Well I have the 2002 version so i guess i`m missing out on 28 minutes. :( Do you know if there are any plans to release it on Blu-ray?

Criterion just started in Dec 2008 releasing their catalog in Blue-Ray format, but they are only averaging 2 releases per month so it could be a very long time before they get around to releasing Kagemusha in Blue-Ray.

[caravel]

Well what can I say about Ran... I've been meaning to watch this for years after seeing the opening movie for STW and never gotten around to it (In truth I'm not a film buff and I hardly turn on a TV). Truly epic. And now that I'm hooked I will probably seeking out more of these films.

[ShadesWolf]

Gud post guys, Seen quite a few of these, but I can now add the ones i havent seen to my collection.

Must admit Ran and 7 samurai are my favourites.

[caravel]

I have the 7 Samurai on two DVDs that lasts 207 minutes. I got through DVD 1 yesterday and now I'm going to watch the second half. This film is absolutely superb, I am off now to see the rest!



Edit:-

Wow, this film has everything. The acting and the plot is legendary. At times it's tragic and at other times uplifting. But this film even has humour, in abundance, which I had never expected. It's a "must see".

[Togakure]

Kagemusha is another particularly good one. Title essentially means "body double." The tale centers around the Takeda clan with Shingen and Katsuyori during the Sengoku, culminating with the battle of Nagashino. Nobunaga and Ieyasu also play prominent roles in the film.

My favorite character in the film is Yamagata Masakage, one of Shingen's 24.

[caravel]

Yes I have Kagemusha and Ran already.

I will probably watch Rashomon next.

[Togakure]

Yes I have Kagemusha and Ran already.

I will probably watch Rashomon next.

Oops! I didn't re-read the thread and missed that you'd seen that already.

Rashomon is different, not a samurai movie really, but brilliant in its own way.

[caravel]

Oops! I didn't re-read the thread and missed that you'd seen that already.

Rashomon is different, not a samurai movie really, but brilliant in its own way.

Yes, I know what you mean, from what I've read, it's a Samurai movie but not really about war and the like. Though Seven Samurai was not really a Samurai Movie in the Ran/Kagemusha sense.

I may get time to watch it (Rashomon) over the weekend. I have in my possession about 16 Kurosawa movies that I haven't seen as yet - not all of them are Samurai/Medieval period. They're not copies/counterfeits, all originals, but I ordered them from overseas for a lot cheaper than I would have paid for just one movie over here.

[Takeo]

Watched Ran only recently, and I actually thought it was a horror movie!
Kurosawa's screenplay is visually very good, and the casts are also quite colorful. But I found some of the acting rather over-the-top, making the King seem hauntingly scary as he got mad. Also, the little clown was especially annoying throughout.
Don't think I would be watching it again...

[caravel]

Ran is based on Shakespeare's King Lear. The "Jester" actually played a good part IMHO - he was supposed to be rather annoying - but was also very philosophical. In my book it was a classic film, but may not be to everyone's tastes.

[gollum]

Originally posted by Takeo
Watched Ran only recently, and I actually thought it was a horror movie!
Kurosawa's screenplay is visually very good, and the casts are also quite colorful. But I found some of the acting rather over-the-top, making the King seem hauntingly scary as he got mad. Also, the little clown was especially annoying throughout.
Don't think I would be watching it again...

Your observations are spot on. Ran was a project that Kurosawa was planning and imagining for many years before he actually did it. So during that time he had storyboarded the whole movie frame by frame; he knew exactly what he wanted on screen - the challenge was in achieving the quality of the pictures he had envisioned - and i think he pretty much achieved it; the film is nothing short of spectacular visually.

The acting, like in Throne of Blood the other Shakespear adaptation he did, is borrowing heavily from Noh, the traditional Japanese theater. The most key difference between cinema acting and theater acting is that in cinema even the subtlest of moves can convey the essence of the scene as nothing escapes the camera lense and its zooms, while in theater, actions and voices need to be exagerated to be made visible and noticed by the audience. RAN is consciously theatrically acted, hence the over-the-top feeling.

The character of the fool, is somewhat extraneous in a Samurai court, this is clearly a European element. Being a fool, he can directly tell the truth masqueraded as a for-laughs-show. He also philosophises heavily, especially after Hidetora gets mad. Personally i dont find him annoying, although i understand why one may do so.