Seven Samurai

I have a lot to say. To start, I thought I would have to sit through these 3 and a half hours begrudgingly, and for the first half, that was sort of true. I mean I was engaged but… it was slow for my rotted brain. But the second half made me get it. The ending scene made me love it. Kikuchiyo was my favorite by far. He might be my favorite character in all of film. Probably because I saw myself in him. He was a character who was constantly chasing approval, while using humor as his primary tactic, but that glimpse of emotion we see while he is holding the kid, just killed me. (Granted, I think that moment could’ve been stretch out longer to stick with me more but, wtvr.) His death was beautiful. He knew what was going to happen to him before it did, but he knew it would be worth it, because the feeling of doing something is what he’s been chasing his whole life. Kanbê was second. His dialogue was just perfect. “But when you think you're safe is precisely when you're most vulnerable.” & “The farmers won. Not us.” The influence this has had is undeniable. I saw everything in this and will see this in everything, because this movie was everything! It was a drama, a comedy, an action, a thriller, a love story all it was all balanced perfectly. Now to talk about the ending. It was shot beautifully, it was preformed beautifully, it was written beautifully, it was scored beautifully. That is how you do an ending. The shot of the three samurai that are left standing in between the 4 swords, with the flag, and Shino crying while Okamoto stares at her. That ending was perfect cinema. Overall, incredible, but 5 is for favorites. Doesn’t mean this isn’t a masterpiece or perfect, it’s just not quite a favorite of mine. 4.5/5