[Movies] Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai

It was a chilly day off, so I settled in to watch Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which I've never seen before.

This is a movie of epic proportions, and it's fully deserving of its reputation as an excellent film. It's long, clocking at around 3.5 hours, but engrossing all the way through. Somewhat of a time commitment, but totally worth it. It left me wishing I had time to go through it again with the commentary on, and watch all the extras.

I really enjoyed Takashi Shimura's performance in this. His character, the leader of the seven, was very magnetic. Guess I'll have to seek out more of his (very extensive) filmography - I've only seen him previously in Rashomon. As for Toshiro Mifune... I think I preferred him in Yojimbo and Sanjuro. His acting was good here, but I actually found his character a bit Much, though he was thankfully balanced out by everyone else.

There's something about Akira Kurosawa's work that's absolutely riveting. I don't know enough about film to put my finger on what it is. Probably a ton of other people have written on it - I might have to go looking.

In all, time well spent. ;V