Extreme Orient 4 - The Seven Samurai

The Seven Samurai - this time the long version, which at three hours thirty is a reasonable description - including an interval. It was followed by a discussion led by Charles Tesson, a French cinema specialist involved with the Cannes Film Festival.  The idea had been to go the two films showing yesterday, but in the end the brain had had enough, so decided not to stay. Instead we spent time thinking and chatting about this fifty-nine year old wonder, that we'd once again been totally absorbed by. We do have it on DVD - the short version obviously - but hadn't watched it for some time.

The film we missed Tel Père, Tel Fils (Like Father Like Son), is a Japanese film - by all accounts superb - about a very successful architect, his wife and their six year old son Keita. They discover that after the birth, their baby was somehow swapped with another and that Keita isn't really theirs. The other couple involved live in vastly different circumstances - a very poor suburb - with three children, including six year old Ryusei. The couples meet, get to know each other and try to find a way to repare the situation. It's a film about family life in Japan, blood ties but also where love lies.  We'll see if it's available on DVD.

As for The Seven Samurai  - we've seen it at the most three or four times and always on TV - not the best place really, but usually the only option. Yesterday we saw it on the big screen for the first time. Fabulous. We were reminded just what a clever decision someone made to develop the idea as a western, and how much the success of The Magnificent Seven/Les Sept Mercenaires owes to director Akira Kurosawa. It's obviously not an exact copy, but it contains many ideas that appear in the original version. I love them both.

There was lots to discuss afterward. However not being overly familiar with the names of the Japanese characters, the conversation was simplified by calling them by their American counterparts. Outrageous behaviour may be, but it was practical. Mind you not all the characters are the same. For example, in The Seven Samurai, 'Kikuchiyo' played by Toshiro Mifune combines many of the traits found in 'Chico'/Horst Buckholz  and 'Bernardo'/Charles Bronson. But he also brings a lot of Kabuki into the role, so it's very big character in sound as well as action.  'Kyuzo' played by Seiji Miyaguchi provides a blue print for James Coburn's Britt. Superb performances from both. Physically they look very similar, they each achieve the inner quiet that the character demands and move with ruthless elegance. 'Kanbe Shimada' (Chris), is played to perfection by Takashi Simura. A truly fabulous film actor. He was one of Kurosawa's favourite actors to work with as was Toshiro Mifune. They appeared in a lot of his films. 

There's so much to admire in this film - direction and camera work, script, settings, lighting, all the performances. Ultimately, The Seven Samurai says plenty about our society and world, albeit nearly 6 decades on. The medium on this occasion is truly the message.