Seven Samurai

'Legendary' and 'epic' are horribly overused words, but if they apply it all in the world of film then they certainly apply to this heavily influential, 190 mintute long, 1954 masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa.
We don't apologise for discussing the length, because for anything of the length this film is an analysis is required. The answer here is that the film does justify its length, by the way it is laid out. Kurosawa is an odd director in so far as he likes to quickly swipe between scenes, he can often build up a plot line very quickly, yet at the same time he likes lots of 'extraneous' scenes, some very long scenes where we have what isn't far off mucking about. We have this at the start, where the characters we see aren't even really the main ones, and, in a sense, it takes a long time to 'get going'. This isn't so much of a problem as it is the start of the movie, and the atmosphere of 16th century Japan is being created, along with the dispersal of the characters. What Kurosawa then does is to constantly crank up the movement, every scene becomes exciting, revealing something, important, as the film picks up pace and picks up pace until the last hour, which the critics are correct in saying is a near flawless hour of cinema. This structure means that when the viewing time gets long, the viewer is not thinking of the time, but has been stimulated to focus all attention on the film.
The uses of frequent humour and lightness, not so much slotted in as the overiding tone of the fim, stops it getting too heavy or sincere, yet endears us and lets us feel the character's lives. The wonderful tone at the end, the incredible shots and thoughtfulness, and blinding truth, make this a rare film to balance lightness and weight.
Kurosawa's characters are, in a way, rather minimally done. They are not tropes, but neither are we invited into their houses to get to know them. It is all very much a build up. This creeps up on you when the action scenes happen; Kurosawa has succeeded in creating great tension seemingly effortlessly, through the build up and through the camera's sudden moments of stillness in these battle scenes themselves. Also part of this is the use of music. Kurosawa is intellgent in using his music not to tell one what to feel, but rather as part of the backdrop, the enviroment. Note particularly use of the slow drum.
The actors deserve great credit for building up characters when this is, after all, primarily an action film. Mifune is hillarious and great on screen, as is Shimura. Each plays his role with elan, not to confuse but to let in.
So what can we say about Kurosawa's overall technique? He is certainly more Hollywood esque, the stylist innovations are never too self-conscious. Despite this, and we have no idea how, when one steps back and considers his shots are actually rather thoughtful. The black and white, and the environment of the village, along with the often full body shots and thoughtfulness of the dress, make this an incredibly beautiful film, often starkly so. Kurosawa, perhaps in his great capacity to 'build-up' unobtrusively, creates a sense of place and space almost unmatched. Then, very quietly, the shapes and themes are placed in this, and Kurosawa, with no distinctive pattern, seemingly quite naturalistically, is able to create great images. The use of the rain at the end os inspired, as is the use of the low down camera in the mud. But Kurosawa is difficult to pin down as having a 'technique', of long or short shorts. What one can say is that (with exceptions) they are either long shots with some focus in them or shots that are short and wipe across. Something is nearly always going on in Kurosawa; his genius is to make it so that this doesn't detract from the atmospherics, but drowning us in plot.
We enjoyed 'Ran', and found 'Ikuru' has some fine points, if it did drag at the end. This is a real old fashioned epic, both narrative wise and in its scope to encompass the filmkaing tradition. It is entertaining, fun, lively, exciting. It is beautiful. It is a masterpiece.