[article] Seven Samurai: one punk college student's opinion

Wow. Saturday night was fun. One giant East-fest. Well, I suppose sushi and Seven Samurai add up to one minor East-fest. But still. Indulge me.

So what stuck out about the film for me was its humanity. I expected to see an epic film, a grandiose sweep of Japan. I figured I wouldn't be able to follow the characters around. But every character was sharply presented, humanity intact. Kikuchiyo in particular is artfully transformed from comic outsider to the emotional center of the movie. His tug between the world of samurai and farmers was well-handled.

Along those lines, Seven Samurai hit me with its earthiness. So many action movies, and in particular martial arts movies, get bogged down in the higher-cause or spiritual-struggle side of battle. The struggle here was internal, arising in equal parts from pure self-preservation and selflessness. Wonderful writing on Kurosawa's part, I think.

Also well-done was the tasteful use of slow motion. Today's directors could certainly learn something from this. I keep seeing large chunks of Woo's debacle MI: 2 going through my mind, and I don't like it. The shots didn't cut away rapidly, but neither did Kurosawa let the camera linger too long on the chaos of the battles. Everything seemed to be conserved for the sake of the gripping characterization.

The only down sides for me, and they were minor, were (1) the occasional sideways wipes that didn't aid the transitions and (2) the lack of an explanation as to why the bandits, seeing a village so well-fortified, kept attcking even as they were being decimated. But Phillip says that point is better explained in The Magnificent Seven, which he loaned me, so it's all gravy.

Possessing equal parts action, drama, tragedy, and comedy, Seven Samurai sidestepped my expectations as a movie for all time. Next up: Magnificent Seven.

Of course, anything would have looked like cinematic genius after watching Jackass: the Movie ...