Seven Samurai

Locations
Call Number: Blu-ray FLC-JPN Seven
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Blu-ray FLC-JPN Seven	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Blu-ray FLC-JPN Seven	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Blu-ray FLC-JPN Seven	1-week checkout	Due 04-26-2024
Traverwood Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Blu-ray FLC-JPN Seven	1-week checkout	Due 04-26-2024

Originally released as a motion picture in 1954.
Bonus features: Two audio commentaries, one featuring film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie, and the other Japanese film expert Michael Jeck; 50-min. documentary on the making of Seven samurai, created as part of the Toho masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It is wonderful to create; My life in cinema, a two-hour video conversation from 1993 between directors Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima; "Seven samurai": origins and influences, a documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that helped shape Kurosawa's masterpiece; theatrical trailers and teaser; gallery of rare posters, behind-the-scenes photos, and production stills; a booklet featuring essays by Kenneth Turan, Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet, and an interview with Toshiro Mifune from 1993.
Disc 1. The film -- disc 2. The supplements.
880-02 Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Tsushima Keiko, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Katō, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi.
This epic masterpiece is about a group of 16th century samurai who are hired to defend a small Japanese village that finds itself annually raided by an army of bandits who steal the meager crops harvested by the peasants. Tired of relinquishing their food supply but woefully inept in combat skills, the villagers decide to hire a band of samurai to protect them. In addition to the primary conflict between the villagers and the bandits, much of the tale revolves around young Katsushiro's coming-of-age, both sexually and emotionally. Kikuchiyo's search for acceptance forms the other major storyline. Indeed, everyone in Seven Samurai is searching: for adventure, for experience, for freedom from their oppressors.
Blu-ray (requires Blu-ray player); region A; 1.33:1 aspect ratio; uncompressed mono., DTS-HD Master Audio.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Asom submitted by Anthany on July 16, 2020, 11:38am Asom

Lives Up to Its Reputation submitted by Meginator on August 11, 2021, 4:47pm This classic film is beautifully written, acted, and shot (the lighting is superb), but what might be most interesting about it is the way that its storyline blends and balances personal relationships, intimately rendered character development, and an epic scope. The lengthy runtime goes by quickly even though the film itself moves at a deliberate, almost ponderous, pace, and the film’s influence on later cinematic storytelling is obvious. Despite focusing heavily on war and battle, the film is surprisingly funny, with an understand (yet effective) sense of humor and one outrageous scene-stealing character who becomes quite beloved by the end of the story. This is a carefully crafted piece of art, but for all of its artistic ambitions it is eminently watchable and holds up today as a piece of incredibly effective, and beautiful, cinematic storytelling.