Hey guys long time no see. I'm back if any of you guys remember me from that bygone golden-age of RT and movie forums in general.
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Toshiro Mifune stars as a wild ashigaru with grand dreams of becoming a great samurai, who, after saving his injured (and rapey) lifelong friend from the losing side of a battlefield is quickly abandoned by the cowardly attempted rapist and suddenly finds himself on the run through war-torn Japan.
Toshiro Mifune gives the kind of performance we all expect, a phenomenal one. His switch from wild ashigaru to calm and collected samurai is fantastic, even if it does happen a little suddenly (I would have loved a few transitional scenes in there, but they certainly got the point across by the end of the film). However, my favorite performance in the picture would have had to have been Kuroemon Onoe as the calm and cool, but jovial monk who makes rapists nope the **** out of dodge using nothing but his pointed smile. As soon as he appears the whole picture is elevated by him and he compliments Mifune perfectly. The portrayal of woman in this picture may be seen as "problematic" today but whatever, this was 1954 and I think it's silly to judge a classic by todays standards. So I'll just acknowledge that and move on. If anything it gets across the feeling of desperation that has taken hold of the general population at that time.
The production design and color photography in this samurai picture is absolutely stunning. Possibly only topped by the late Kurosawa pictures Kagemusha and Ran from 1980 and 1985. The action is very well shot and edited and reminiscent of Kurosawa pictures from that time. The great battle in the first act especially was truly something to behold.
I really really enjoyed this picture and look forward to watching II and III in the coming days.
8.5/10