i just figured out seven samurai

[samuraidragon]

woah, i was just watching samurai 7 for the first time, and it's totally based off an old black and white film called seven samurai. crazy cool. if anybody likes the show they should go to their local video store and rent it. its probably my favorite foreign film, that's pretty cool they made an anime out of it 60 years later. the elder is supposed to be a woman though.

[jon_jinn]

you never knew that. on the box of samurai 7 it says "Based on Akira Kurosawa's novel, "The Seven Samurai"."

[Ashley]

There's also an old, old Western movie called "The Magnificient Seven" that was also based off this series (the book/movie, I mean, not the anime )

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Yeah. If you get the change watch Seven Samurai. Also try watching Yojimbo XD

They're good stuff. Classics. Up there with Hitchcock and Citizen Kane.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Yah! My local library finally recieved the original Seven Samurai.
*reserves dvd*
Isn't it the movie that George Lucas borrowed from for Star Wars? Or was that another of Akira's movies?

[JasonPratt]

That was another movie, _The Hidden Fortress_. Portions of its plot mirror the rescue of Leia from the Death Star (plus it has a C3P0/R2D2 comedy relief pair who help out the main heroes.)

Btw, _Yojimbo_, you may notice, bears a resemblance (or actually the other way around) to Sergio Leone's _Fistfull of Dollars_ (itself remade not too long ago as a not-quite-as-good Bruce Willis movie with Christopher Walken as the UBG. _Last Man Standing_ I think was the name, set in Prohibition America times.)

[JasonPratt]

Oh, and Kurosawa's movie _Rashomon_ (based on the Japanese novel), has been remade by just about every drama and sit-com on television. {g} Plus several feature films use the basic structure of that story (Jet Li's _Hero_ being the most relevant for an anime thread, perhaps. {gg!})

Of more direct relevance to anime as a Japanese art-form, the original _Godzilla_ movie was practically a Kurosawa film in every regard (minus Kurosawa himself).

[samuraidragon]

you never knew that. on the box of samurai 7 it says "Based on Akira Kurasawa's novel, "The Seven Samurai"."

yeah i saw it, i just didn't make the connection.


another really good old japanese film is the Miyamoto Musashi trilogy. i don't know if anybody's heard of Miyamoto Musashi, but he's a really famous samurai and a really skilled one, he was never defeated once from his first duel at 13.

[JasonPratt]

The Musashi trilogy _is_ pretty good (with good Methodist method-actor {g} Toshiro Mifune as Musashi--who else!?) though as with most Japanese swordfighting films, it's a little too stodgy and plodding for my taste. Much prefer Chinese wuxia. {beam!} Wonder how much of that is a reflection of swordfighting styles, btw...


Fun scene from, er, the third movie, I think; borrowed for a scene in the original _Karate Kid_: Musashi bluffs down a group of rowdy drunks by picking flies out of the air with his chopsticks while they're trying to pick a fight with him.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Monkey (Magic) owns everything!
The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!

[samuraidragon]

i like the fighting in the musashi films a hundred times more then the wuxia. it's real, like real swordfighting done in real time. he doesn't dodge a sword by leaning back all the way to the ground, then run roadrunner style up walls and over water.

[JasonPratt]

Actually, it was the plodding _plotting_ that I don't like as much as wuxia plotting. But since I did wonder whether that was a reflection of the various swordstyles common to the genres, I can see where it would seem I didn't like the fighting as much either.

So, to clarify: speaking as a fencer (and instructor), yes actually I do appreciate the fighting styles typical to Japanese cinema, for their tendency toward realism; as much as I appreciate the flamboyancy of the Chinese wuxia. (Obviously this means I _really_ like the various approaches taken in both the main Kenshin series and the hyperrealistic OVA. Whereas, the "Reflections" OVA annoyed me because it _should have been_ hyperrealistic but ended up fudging.)


Which in turn reminds me to post up a trivia question concerning a live-action movie featuring a character from RK...! {gg!}

[Heart of Sword]

Isn't that the movie with freakish resemblances to Samurai X?

[JasonPratt]

..... maaaaaaybe. {g}

Though probably not, since Jin'e doesn't appear in the Samurai X movie. (Nor the Trust/Betrayal miniseries. And his appearance in Samurai X "Reflections" is simply a more naturalistic retelling of his appearance in the main series.)

I'll wait until someone has figured out which live action movie is about the inspiration for Jin'e, before checking further on this--though I'm terribly curious as to which movie has freakish resemblances to the SamX movie.