As a titanic fan of older films and music, I am very aware of the many attempts of studios and characterize companies to reissue and re-market a previously released product in a recent and improved format. While many of these reissues are often suited to their previously released counterparts, I have never been one to take into the “upgrades”. I feel that you don’t need to have the best sound, the crispest characterize, or the excess of supplemental materials in order to savor a film and have it affect you. In all my years collecting music CD’s (particularly jazz) and DVDs, I reflect I’ve upgraded no more than three items from my collections.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Seven Samurai – 3 Disc Remastered Edition! Click Here

I had been hearing for a while now about a fresh version of Seven Samurai coming out on Criterion that was supposed to have a label novel transfer from a recently discovered source that was to be greatly improved from any other previous edition. Being one of the most beloved films of all time (and one of mine as well), this has been creating alot of excitement in the world of film lovers. Being perfectly blissful with my version of the Seven Samurai DVD from 1998, I had no plans to upgrade, but a side by side comparison on an internet residence peaked my curiosity. And yesterday, being at a local retailer, I saw it on the shelf and decided to spring for it.

Let me hiss you….if ANY of you are on the fence about this one, particularly those of you who are immense fans of this improbable film, I remark you to go for it. The disagreement between this edition and the previous edition is so drastic that I could not own my eyes and ears. I have never had this experience with a DVD before, but the improvements in relate and sound quality are SO enormous that I actually felt like I was watching Seven Samurai for the first time. The clarity of the relate is absolutely astounding. The ravishing dark and white tones are considerable richer, but what’s most impressive is how nearly all the imperfections, scratches, and blemishes that were so prevalent on the previous edition have been removed. You can enlighten why this edition took so long to gather released….Criterion obviously took alot of time with this one. Their efforts paid off. Also, the sound has been greatly improved as well. Not only have they cleaned up the recent mono soundtrack, but they’ve added a stereo surround track as well. Normally, I cringe at these “fresh and improved” soundtracks on former films, but this track does not sound artificial at all, but rather more like an enhanced version of the mono track. The stereo surround track together with the blooming unique represent made for a fresh experience watching the film. You are level-headed watching the tall Kurosawa classic that you know and admire, but at the same time it seems that even more life has been breathed into it. Didn’t consider that was possible for such a perfect film, but Criterion proved any doubter deplorable.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Seven Samurai – 3 Disc Remastered Edition! Click Here

Please preserve in mind that I haven’t even gotten to the bonus materials, the commentary tracks, nor the very elegant book yet. And there isn’t mighty more that I can say about this wonderful film that hasn’t already been said. Honest based on the presentation of the film itself in this unique package from Criterion, I would highly recommend to everybody who loves this film and is thinking about upgrading their version of the film, that you do so. Its shapely. And remember, this is coming from someone who doesn’t generaly care for “upgrades”.

Akira Kurosawa made “Seven Samurai” because he wanted to construct a genuine “jidai-geki,” a actual period-film that would expose the past as meaningful, while also being an engaging film. Kurosawa considered “Rashomon,” the film rightfully credited with making the West aware of the Japanese cinema, with being neither. But in his attempt to obtain a truly “realistic” film, Kurosawa redefined the conflict at the heart of Japanese films. Before “Seven Samurai” this conflict was that of treasure versus duty, where the central character is compelled by fate to sacrifice what he loves in the name of duty. In “Seven Samurai” the focus remains on duty, yet the conflict is now between the proper and the pretended. Calling yourself a samurai does not earn you one, something proven time and time again in the film, from the test of skill turned deadly between Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi) and the large samurai to the first appearance of Kikuchiyo (Toshirô Mifune), with his stolen pedigree. Like Katshushiro (Ko Kimura), the youngster who wants to learn from the master, Kambei (Takashi Shimura), the audience is educated as to the just nature of the samurai.

For me this film deals with the plucky, albeit in realistic terms. I have shown the film in World Literature classes, after students have read Homer’s “Iliad” and as they launch reading Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.” Within that context, compared to the brutal arrogance of Achilles and the gentle insanity of Quixote, the mettlesome qualities of the seven samurai become positive. Their inspiration extends to some of the villagers. Manzo (Kamatari Fujiwara) is crazed with alarm over the virtue of his daughter, Shino (Keiko Tsushima), and Rikichi (Yoshio Tsuchiya) fights to avenge the disgrace of his wife and his precipitating the death of Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), but it is the silly Yohei (Bokuzen Hidari), who finds within himself the ability to fight, a die a tragic death, who is the just barometer for what the samurai mean to the village. But the greatest tragedy is that despite this most worthy distress and the bodies buried in honor at the top of the village cemetery, this has been but a temporary union between the villagers and the samurai. When Kambei declares, “We have lost again,” he redefines the battles: it was not to ruin all the bandits, it was to acquire a right station in the world. Yet we should have already known this, for the painful truth was driven home when Kyuzo, the master swordsman, is gunned down from slow. No better proof is needed in this film of the bitter truth that the world is not blooming.

Mifune is the maniacal spirit of this film, as the faux-samurai Kikuchiyo, the dancing whirlwind whose emotions overwhelm everything including himself. But it is Shimura as Kambei, who embodies the mentor mentality with a minimum of danger, evoking more by rubbing his hand over his shaved head or giving a single piercing discover than by any spoken dialogue. Even in a strong ensemble these performances stand out, for clearly different reasons. To fully devour Kurosawa’s mastery in “Seven Samurai” you need to notice the film several times to better be pleased the map he constructs scenes, using contrasting images, evocative music and varying the length of cuts to affect tempo. For example, watch carefully at how the early scene of the farmers searching the streets for samurai and the later sequence where Katsushiro watches Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo waiting for the bandit scouts to return to their horses. Both of these scenes are valid primers to Kurosawa’s style.

For years we had to build with the 160-minute version of the film that was made for export, which was actually called “The Handsome Seven” until John Strugis’s Western remake. Fortunately, “Seven Samurai” has been restored to pudgy 208-minute glory, saved from being a lamentable cinematic tragedy on a par with “Greed,” “The Blooming Ambersons,” and “Ivan the Poor.” There is a sense in which “Seven Samurai” is truly my common film, because it was the one that instilled in me a treasure of cinema, of the craft and art of movie making, of compelling me to understand intellectually how Kurosawa was skillfully manipulating my emotions. The final battle sequences, fought and filmed in a torrent of rain, exhausting characters and audience alike with its increasingly relentless tempo, is given its potency because of the human elements that have been established in all that has taken spot before hand. “Seven Samurai” is a exquisite film against which the gigantic majority of epics pale in comparison. Not even Kurosawa scaled these heights ever again.
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