Fall 2014 #15: Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa

I don’t know how my Fall 2014 Movie Bucketlist got to be 16 films, but don’t worry, there’s one more on this list! After that I’ll get started on my Summer 2015 Movie Bucketlist.

Yeah I know watching new movies is exciting. So this is probably the one on the list I was most nervous about, because it was by far the longest film on my list. The original cut that ran in Japan in 1954 was 3 hours 27 minutes. The American cut was barely two and a half hours, since everyone knows Americans can’t sit through anything. Thankfully the Criterion Collection has the full original cut…

So at literally over an hour longer than the second longest film on this list (Rosemary’s Baby, 2 hours 16 minutes), watching this film definitely seemed daunting.

On top of that, samurai films are not my favorite genre. I mean they’re not my least favorite genre either (cough Westerns). I had seen an Akira Kurosawa film before, Yojimbo, in a film class, so I knew I could count on a good story, even if the acting can sometimes be seriously off-putting.

Basically, as for the plot, a small town of farmers in 1587 Japan enlist a group of ronin (masterless samurai) to protect them from the bandits who threaten to steal all of their crops. The first hour or so of the film involves the farmers finding the first samurai, an experienced warrior by the name of Kambei, and then him helping them assemble the team of seven samurai with them. A hero-gathering montage!

That’s Kikuchiyo, the unwanted seventh samurai.

So the team of samurai decide that the farmers will finish their harvest, and then begin a war with the bandits to protect their crop yield. Cue Intermission.

Once the war begins, the film is a classic (although incredibly modern for its time) action movie. Kurosawa used almost four times the original intended budget for the film, shooting for 148 days in fully-constructed peasant village.

But it sure is one hell of a war. Over the course of a few days, the samurai continuously outsmart and outlast the bandits. At this point, the bizarre unity of the clever and courageous samurai and the terrified but ambitious villagers fighting to defend their harvest reminded me of something.

The similarities between A Bug’s Life and Seven Samurai are actually startling. A victimized village of poor farmers turn to what they believe to be a group of warriors to help defend their harvest from bandits. In A Bug’s Life, the warriors actually turn out to be circus bugs, but using their ingenuity and wealth of resources, the two groups work together to protect the villagers.

So the samurai aren’t circus-folk… but they do have their unique cast of characters that make them strong. There’s a love story, a massive rain-storm during the final battle, and even a harvesting montage. Pixar you are busted.

But I did some research, and apparently Pixar has never commented on these similarities. Instead, they explain that the source of inspiration for A Bug’s Life is none other than one of Aesop’s Fables, The Ant and the Grasshopper, a moralistic story about how it pays to be prepared. There’s not even a wise samurai leader spouting platitudes about things he learned in battle.

Oh well. The film was nominated for two Oscars, best Costume Design for a Black and White Film and Best Art Direction for a Black and White Film. It’s also #20 on the IMDb Top 250, the highest ranking Asian film. If you have three and a half hours you should give it a try!