BBC: Why Is "Seven Samurai" So Good?

Above, the Seven Samurai mural at the main entrance to Toho Studios. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Okay, movie fans! Here's one for you.

Many Japanese kaiju fans have broadened their movie-watching interests into other genres with some focus on prominent Japanese movie directors. Akira Kurosawa is one of them. Many Japanese movie fans have enjoyed a long list of Kurosawa movies, most prominently is Seven Samurai (1954). This includes me. I have a copy of Seven Samurai.

The BBC has an interesting article on Seven Samurai, "Why is Seven Samurai so good?"

It begins with:

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) is a three-and-a half-hour-long black-and-white epic set in war-torn, 16th-Century Japan. As elevator pitches go, it’s hardly ideal, yet not only did Seven Samurai take first place in BBC Culture’s 100 greatest foreign-language film poll, with 41 critics (20 per cent of the total) voting for it, Kurosawa was one of the most popular directors overall, with three of his other films (Rashomon, Ikiru and Ran) all making the top 100. Tellingly, though, Kurosawa’s global appeal didn’t reach as far as the Japanese critics who took part; not one of them voted for Seven Samurai, or any other Kurosawa film, preferring the subtler homegrown talents of Yasujirô Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. But perhaps that’s what we should have expected. Even during his most successful film-making years, Kurosawa was often held in higher esteem abroad than in his own country.

The article is an interesting read. I recommend it!

Interestingly, Seven Samurai and Godzilla were both boxoffice hits in 1954 and both are honored with murals at the main entrance to Toho Studios in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo.

To read the full article, go here.