Are you a fan of Akira Kurosawa films? / Recommended films for the Era?

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Kharille

Kharille

Knight at Arms
Old Guard
I know, maybe this should go in another forum, but hey, if you like the period.  I've watched a lot I guess, the starwars hidden fortress film, seven samurai, yojimbo, sanjuro.  One of the main things I love are the 1 vs 13 yakuza / gamblers fight which lasts less than a minute...  and Toshiro does it again and again, playing a noble ronin.

I'd say they are slow.  But I love em' when you watch them through.

Kagemusha, Ran... 

More recently there were films like hidden blade, 13(?) assassins, and the remake of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman....

Maybe a dueling scene with a blind swordsman for low honour characters...?

Oh and there is that female blind swordswoman film...  good thing there's subtitles....
 
Ran and Kagemusha are my all-time favorite Sengoku movies, although I love Goyokin, the Hidden Blade and Lone Wolf and Cub too. :razz:

One movie I am planning to watch some day is Sanjuro.
 
I usually really don't like old films, but Ran and Kagemusha were really really great films.
I asked a similar question in another forum, and a guy gave me a really great list, but the forum's since been "updated" and everything's been lost.

From what i remember, most of the good films seemed to be Edo period rather than Sengoku. Hidden Blade was ok, and i think it's part of a (largely unrelated) trilogy. Love and Honour is one part of the "trilogy", and it was pretty decent. Can't remember the name of the third film though.
When The Last Sword Is Drawn was amazingly good, though again, not Sengoku era. Ame Ashigaru was another really great film.
Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai was great. Haven't seen the original, but it's supposedly just as great. Again though, not Sengoku...

The only Sengoku era film i can really remember was Heaven and Earth, which more-or-less follows Uesugi Kenshin through his life. Wasn't really all that good, and the subtitles i had were pretty awful (which might have been why).

Sakuramongai No-hen was the only film i really didn't enjoy. Again, could have been down to the subtitles, but everything just seemed to jump from one scene to another.

There was another film from my watching-samurai-films binge that was so awful i can't even remember the name of it. I think it was (yet another) remake of 13 Assassins. So yea, avoid any other remakes besides the really popular one.
 
Funny how I enjoy those films, but I think for people who are not accustomed to Akira Kurosawa might get bored.  I also saw the throne of blood, rashomon...  I'm still watching the 3 hour Red Beard movie which I don't recommend to others, but I'd watch it once anyway.  Toshiro does his 1 vs many stuff again even though its all about doctors...  They tend to be slow...  but hey, I'd watch it once....
 
Forgive me if you are only looking for strictly historical Sengoku movies, or if you are only interested in older movies but if you're looking for just entertaining samurai movies that don't stray too deep into the silly realm as well then let me know and I will supply!
 
Anything, movie or animation just to get into the mood...  Even a scifi seven samurai animation recommendation would be nice.  I think even the star wars cartoon had their version of seven samurai.  Just don't post magnificent 7....

I read Akira Kurosawa acknowledged that he stole ideas from a western too.... 
 
Samurai Champloo - Very good samurai anime focusing on 2 Ronin with some quirky comedy

Rurouni Kenshin - Very good, and long running anime focusing on a samurai/assassin who brought about the Meiji era who's dealing with the consequences of his involvement, while trying to abandon his past. ( The movie I listed above is great as well! )

Sengoku Basara - I haven't watched it, but it seems to be a well-rated Historical/Samurai anime set during the Sengoku period( as the title suggests ) with appearances by the top dogs back in those days.

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman - Great movie, though hard to find in my case. I know it's available on Netflix.

When the Last Sword is Drawn - A very highly rated movie, which I haven't seen before and am about to start watching  :wink: averaging 5 stars on Netflix documenting a controversial Samurai named Kanichiro Yoshimura in the final days of the Feudal era.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai - Another highly rated movie averaging at 5 stars which I've also watched, and highly recommend.

Honestly I can go on with anime, as I'm very fond of it but I've always ended up getting blanks when trying to find more live-action movies concerning Samurai.


 
Hm...  I enjoyed several of the ol' classics like Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro but it was in the 90's and access to films was so limited.  I remember I had to walk 5km to the international cinema so that I could watch 'Le Bossu' 90's.  These days its much easier.  They're slow.  So if you're not into the era...  I suppose if you're a Gekukojo fan you'd be into these films.  They're good but you really need to see the whole thing to enjoy it.  Suppose, they're a bit like that black and white and red film Schindlers list.....
 
Kharille said:
Hm...  I enjoyed several of the ol' classics like Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro but it was in the 90's and access to films was so limited.  I remember I had to walk 5km to the international cinema so that I could watch 'Le Bossu' 90's.  These days its much easier.  They're slow.  So if you're not into the era...  I suppose if you're a Gekukojo fan you'd be into these films.  They're good but you really need to see the whole thing to enjoy it.  Suppose, they're a bit like that black and white and red film Schindlers list.....
Click to expand...

Ah yes the 90's, I enjoyed the samurai movies a lot back then, but then I got into antique Japanese weapons and armor and I found myself thinking "they didn't do that" a lot when I watched the movies.
At some point all I could see was "post period armor" or the wrong type of armor for certain troops, or the exact same armor for cavalry, or how katana were worn edge up in the 16th century even though it's very much an Edo period thing to wear them like that... and Edo period sword mountings instead of the period correct black laquered hilts of the time.
It goes on and on, so sadly I don't enjoy the movies as much as I once used to anymore.

Damn.
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054122/

Goemon movie...  This should be interesting, give some background on one of the characters....

Any other movie recommendations?
 
If you have hulu, last I checked they had the whole zatoichi series and more Kurasawa movies then you could shake a stick at. Tadashi Imai made a movie called Revenge that I liked also.
 
Recently was looking for a topic like this as I was in a Sengoku period mood and decided to give Kurosawa a try by watching Ran, and then realized I already watched it.

An amazing movie to be sure. They don't make battles or historical movies as a whole nearly as impressive or convincing anymore. :sad:
 
Spider Web Castle is a good one too. It is a feudal Japan MacBeth. I agree about battles and Historical movies, I think most people just dont care. Its a shame.
 
Who is not a fan of both Kurozawa and his favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune?

7 Samourais (full) for me.
All the characters are OUTSANDING, and the combats are looking so real with no fancy moves.
And with a young Toshiro Mifune an outstanding actor and a real swordman.
But also, Daisuke Katô, Minoru Chiaki, the classy Seiji Miyaguchi etc.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Calradios The Great
The Restorer of the world chapter 1.
Replies
1
Views
404
Calradios The Great
Calradios The Great
jisiting2960
For a game with a price of only ￥178 , BL 2 is worth more. But what we are not satisfied with is that the content of the game is not rich en
Replies
8
Views
947
black_bulldog
black_bulldog
xdj1nn
Post conquest settlement balancing: Why is it a problem?
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
strawmann
Back
Top Bottom