171 Seven Samurai Part 2

Hi this is Steve. One of the best things about doing the cinephiles is turning people on to films they've never seen before. But that's also a heady responsibility. I mean, how will they react? Will people love these films as much as John and I do? Or will they think they were absolutely crazy? There are certainly some films which created a fair amount of controversy and others that some of our listeners absolutely hate. But one film I'm not worried about is a cure course that was Seven Samurai. Now I'm not saying that everyone will like it, no film can say that, and certainly for some the barrier of entry might be quite high. After all we're talking about a 66 year old black and white three and a half hour period piece with subtitles. Certainly that's not everyone's cup of tea. But if you love movies, if you care about craftsmanship and performance, composition, light, movement, if you can appreciate brilliant character development and story structure, great music, fantastic editing, then like it or not, I don't believe you can watch Seven Samurai without some part of you being odd by the genius behind this great film. And if you haven't seen it, now is your chance to go to cinephiles.net where you can buy or stream Seven Samurai along with every other film we've ever reviewed. Then come back on Friday to hear John and I conclude our discussion of one of our favorite films of all time. The Curacura Salas - Seven Samurai Hello and welcome once again to the cinephiles where we continue our exploration of the Seven Samurai. My name is Steve Morris. I'm a filmmaker and directing instructor in Los Angeles, California. Hey everyone, this is John Roca. I'm a VO artist, voiceover artist, writer, producer and host over at my new outlet, The Outlaw Nation and of course co-hosting on the Geekbuddy's Co-host on the top den show. And probably right around this time maybe a little bit later, I'll be dropping my first new episode of The Outlaw Nation. So that's coming back as well. That's pretty exciting stuff. Yeah, you'll be on it, Steve. I'm looking forward to talking about whatever it is you want to talk about. Yeah. It's nice to have an outlet to talk about things that are not necessarily film stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the side kind of benefits of this. Yeah. Uh, unfortunate situation being like, oh, is that I'm actually able to do even more now? Right. And that's, we'll see what it yields, what results it yields, but it's kind of exciting and scary at the same time, which most great things start that way or fail that way. So whatever. It's the Outlaw Unleashed. That's not a bad idea. I like that one. Um, and we have an important announcement. Yes. So it is at the beginning of the year, as you know, we always put out our listener survey to find out for one thing, uh, what movie in 2010? Cause it's now 10 years we want to do. Yeah. We're going to hold that announcement a little bit longer. But I think we know what it is. We also asked for the month of Kurosawa. What Kurosawa film it would most like to hear a commentary track on and your answer was Yo Jimbo. Yeah. Yo Jimbo. So we returned to the samurai world and back to Chishiro Mifuni for it. So it is, it is in my mind, one of the other great samurai films, but yeah, its tone is very, very different from what we're in in seven samurai. Yeah. We covered it already on the set of files, but apparently this is like closing the loop on your Jimbo where they want us to do a commentary track for it as well. Well, you and I maybe we've changed. Yeah. We talked about it. And who, I don't know what you're going to say. You don't know what I'm going to say. So that'll be next week. You'll hear our discussion, our commentary track of Yo Jimbo. Yeah. But today is not Yo Jimbo. Today we returned to the world of seven samurai. We were at the intermission, which was an easy place for us to take a break. And when we come back, I think the tone is very different. When we left, Kamba had just asserted his authority as the general to bring this group together as an army to say that the group had to work together as one that their lives depended upon it that sacrifices had to be made. It was very serious. It was very heavy. And then we come back. Yeah. And it's harvest time. Right. So totally different tone. Yeah. And we get a glimpse into what these farmers go through the rhythms, the patterns. Yeah. Being a farmer, I wonder how much chorus, how much research course I would did in finding out like what the, what the songs are. They sing when they're farming. I was curious about to. Right. Right. All the rhythms, the patterns, how the, like between men and women who does what those kinds of things. But of course it's also brilliant in terms of pacing of the movie, right? You leave on a very harder note. You come back on a playful note to get people back into the feeling of the movie, smiling a little bit before the battle start to happen and people start to die. So it's a smart thing going to lull you in a sense of complacency before they mess with your emotions. You know, it just occurred to me. What's that is that when we talk about the great films, like the truly great, est of all time movies. I think almost all of them have wide variations in tone. Like you think about a cane showing up at the newspaper and how fun and funny that scene is. You think about all the humor in Lawrence of Arabia. You think about all the family stuff in the Godfather and all the, the variation of the even romantic stuff within the Godfather. Like the, is that, is that true? I'm just putting that out there right now. Yeah. Or Casa Blanca's another one where there's comedic scenes and romantic scenes and pretty heavy scenes. I'll go even harder Steve Schindler's list. There are comedic moments in Schindler's list to balance out the very hard, dramatic stuff that's going to come. The very sad heartbreaking stuff that's coming. There are moments between him and Oscar Schindler and Ben Kingsley that are sweet and funny and you almost hesitate to laugh, but it works within the construct of what Spielberg creates in that movie. I never, it never occurred to be before, but certainly within this film because in Act 2, we are going to get to some of the heavy, just, have including one moment that I think is stunningly just brutal. And yet right now, it is joyful. Yeah. Fully joyful. The music. And of course, what also is happening is that Kikuccio. See, I've never trouble again. I worked it out last episode. I'm going to work it out again today. Kikuccio, he looks up and who does he see coming in to take in the barley? The women. The women, yes, the women. And he is excited. He goes crazy for this. He runs up to a woman, hands her his big swords. He's giving that side. I'm going to do three times as much harvesting as you and he just goes at it like an excitable dog. I'm going to do everything. You pet me later. I'm going to do all this, but you pet me later. He is so funny. And you know what occurred, this occurred. So one of the interesting things whenever we do two partners is that there are things that occur to me in the weekend between. And here's the one that occurred to me is that in America, frequently, actors get typecast as a thing. Like you play the heavy, you play the funny guy, you play the best friend, whatever it is. Clearly, that does not happen for a Curricore Sawa. Because you look just at Takashi Shomura and to Shiramafuni, you know, we're going to be doing your gymbo. Think about to Shiramafuni and your gymbo. Think about him and high and low and straight dog. Think about Takashi Shomura in Ikiru. Think about him like the heat. There is what Corasalases about actors that most American directors don't see is that they can do other stuff. Well, yeah. And that's why you get someone like Scorsese with with Decaprio, right? Multiple different roles that he can play to work in the situation. And I think Corasal was one of those rare filmmakers that was able to train to use these really actors of note in multiple genres successfully. Because after these two, that's how you done like a die. Same thing. Used in multiple genres as an actor. Yeah. I think, and that's the thing. And you know this as an actor. And I know this from working with actors. There are people that have a lot of different stuff in them. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you know where you see it the most I would say is with the one where we do it is that the comedic actor that's kind of grown a little older. Yeah. We suddenly put like Adam Sandler just now and uncut James, which I loved. Yeah, I haven't seen it yet. I'm sure his I'm just from the trailer. I can see his performance is stunning. Right. Like and somebody saw, oh, you have this other thing in you. You know, look at George Clooney. I mean, Clooney as well. Oh, he's yeah, he's a character actor masquerading in and sitting Brad Pitt, both characters actors masquerading in essentially on Janu bodies and faces. Yeah. They're able like a Clooney and seriana versus old brother Brad Pitt and burn after reading our true romance versus what he does in harder films or more dramatic roles. Those are things are killing me softly things like that. Yeah. You see a difference in Pitt that is incredible to watch. And so yeah. Yeah. It's one of the moments I love, by the way, is when to share my funny walks up to yo hay. So where have you been hiding these women and the smile that comes over yo hay's face because he's been terrified. Yeah. He said one mug through the whole movie. And when he smiles, it is just awesome. I almost feel like Chris. I was at the actors playing yo hay. He said, when anybody speaks to you, act as if they're speaking a completely foreign language. And you're just smiling along and trying to catch up because that seems to be his face all the time. I love it. Amazing. And then and all the samurai are sort of smiling and happy. And this is, you know, this, this progression that he does very simply and very slowly of bonding these two groups that seem so diametrically opposed. Yeah. But they're starting to feel like family together. And in that spirit, Hey, Hachi, who's become close with Rikichi, says, well, they're all these women here. Why don't you have a wife? You should settle down, settle down. Rikichi's response, his reaction is not what you'd expect. It's a storm away. Yeah. And everyone is going like, what, what did you do? What happened? What's going on? The message of question does Rikichi, we spoke about him in part one. He stormed off as well when the, the, we pulled out the kimono. Exactly. What's he? Hachi, the one who asked him about it when he met with the kimono? So to Shirma Funi is the one finds the kimono. Right. But I think it might be Hey Hachi. So this makes so much sense for what happens later that they're laying the grammar of this relationship between Rikichi and Hey Hachi. And the other moment that happens is who the other woman that comes out is Shino. Shino, right? Yeah. And of course, Katsushiro notices. And of course, Monzo doesn't want Shino and Katsushiro looking at each other. Right. And the person who knows it is. I can't remember his name. Now it's the, the guy who I'm calling the sergeant, the, the ball guy. Go to go to bad thing. No, no, go base. The second man is she, she, she, she. Okay. Um, I, I'll find his name. It's written down in here. Um, this is, you know, I'll tell you one of the places I find it's, look, the reality is an American dude. And I can, if the names were Frank and John, I remember them easily. And if the names are Japanese names, I have a hard time remembering them and pronouncing them. And I'm sure a Japanese person would have no problem remembering and pronouncing them. So yeah, exactly. Um, but he notices this thing. And then we have a wipe and everyone's looking for Rikichi. They can't find him. Yep. And they realize something's wrong with him. And they say, Hey, Hachi, you really should go have a talk to that guy. Right. And we end up at guard duty. It's late at night. And Rikichi is on guard and Hey Hachi comes up and he says, have a seat. Let's have a little chat. Yeah. And he tries to get him to talk. He says you shouldn't bottle things up. You're obviously angry about something. It's better if you talk about things. Imagine that conversation in the 50s. Yeah. Just think about that. That is a great point. I mean, mental health and psychology and psychiatry doesn't really grip America till the 80s. But here is 1950. Of course, there were jokes about in the 70s or 60s or whatever, but like really isn't a thing in the little bit 80s and 90s. But you look at like the 1950s. This guy is saying to him, Hey, you should really talk about your feelings. You shouldn't let it bottle. You shouldn't let it sit inside you. You should let it out a little bit. It's phenomenal. Well, it's funny that you say that because I wanted to talk about this too. So I would say that so Freud's the 20s and 30s. Yeah. And so in the 50s, it was starting to happen. It's surprising that it's made it to Japan to me. Fair. But here's what's here's what. So I listen to all the commentary tracks. I watch all the docs. I can see I read whatever I can in the time that we have. Every single commentary track documentary mentioned this and said this was anachronistic that we were doing modern. The no samurai people in peasants would talk about their feelings in this way. This didn't really sense. And I'm watching it going bullshit. Like I like there seems to be and I've seen this a lot in kind of historical perspectives on stuff. Like one of the there's there's people that talk about about the fact that romantic love didn't exist until the 1700s. That that until the romantic novel started to be written that people or maybe it's you know Shakespeare that's the late 1500s, early 1600s that we start talking about these things. And these were never really talked about in terms of that people didn't really feel those things. What marriages were arranged. And so I was like and I'm always like no people felt stuff. Yeah. Like yes, the society maybe they felt it on a smaller level and we didn't talk about it the way we you know today we talk about you have to find the perfect person and there's a perfect person out there and to some degree I think that's bullshit. But but like the the idea that people didn't feel these things the idea that people in 1583 Japan or whatever year this is 87 I think didn't actually have emotions about their you know things terrible things that had happened to them and that they didn't talk about them and they didn't feel better. I mean confession within the Catholic Church is a tradition for thousands of years you know like the idea that if you have a thing you've got to talk about it that's a real that exists for a long time. Yeah and who how do we know that people didn't write about this stuff and were like rejected by the editors of the time whatever whoever was in like you know even going back to cave man paintings maybe someone did leader of the tribe or the chews that that's to that's to yeah to emotional to to weak you know the idea of emotion equal weakness all of that kind of stuff it could have been going for many many many centuries of in our existence and that stuff wasn't allowed to be until the 1500s or whatever so I agree with you Steve thoroughly people felt this they may not have like expressed it in a public way but people felt this well and can we say it would be it would be extremely unlikely for a farmer to talk about his feelings with a samurai yes that would be extremely unlikely possibly yes but does that mean that that never happened right you know what I mean like the that that's where I always the people people often try to you know like you'll hear someone say like oh a rich man would never do that or a black man would never do that or a or a mother would never say that it's like well no people are different all sorts of things happen we might say on average that would be unlikely right but not that it wouldn't happen I don't trust scholars when it comes to emotions I just don't I just don't that is a great great line I I think that is a real truism you just not right there um but the thing is he doesn't get anywhere rikichi says nothing um it's later the samurai are sleeping and come get come by gets up with corroborate it's like okay let's go do our rounds yeah and they look over at katsu shiro and like should should we wake him up and he says shinoe in his sleep as they're walking yeah and they go you know let the boy dream yeah he's a kid and they head out and corroborate says well where should we go and he says well obviously we should go to the place where we're the most worried yeah and that is kikuchio's station right and how's kikuchio doing on guard duty is fast asleep fast asleep with a samurai sword far away from him in comparison to where it needs to be yep and and this is the thing and I think does he have the ability to be a great samurai yes I think he does sure does he have the training no no or the temperament no right well and to some degree temperament comes from training yes I mean like yes we are born with a certain temperament but you you had the stern samurai making sure you kept awake punishing you when you did and putting you through these exercise your temperament I mean you you went through basic training yes did your temperament shift yes it does it has to it has to in order to survive you have no choice right but he doesn't have that training it's so what does kambai do take the samurai sword they hide it then they wake him up and have him flailing around I love how he reaches behind him yeah for that sword and can't find it that's what you would do as a human being of course you're against I know where it is so I'm a backup slowly and then oh swing around wait wait it's not there then he's gonna I mean it's great the physicality that before we have here once again like an animal without protection um and he grabs a log and he's ready to fight and up kambai who says you're lucky with us if you we were bandits you'd be headless now and he tosses a sword and walks away and kikuchio drops to his knees because he knows this is the change in kikuchio right he was defensive he was abrasive he was aggressive he was combative and as he becomes incorporated into the group of the seven more more he deferts he respects he takes his lessons and his punishments uh as they come and I found that to be such an interesting thing to discover again rewatching the film he he 100% does and unfortunately each lesson comes late yeah you know later I mean like that's I mean well and this is how lessons come yeah I mean this is you know I think about it as a parent I think about as a teacher like today I'm going to have to talk to a student about a thing and most people don't learn you have to take the knock to learn that's for most of us you're not ready to learn the lesson until you're ready to learn the lesson yeah well and the thing is is until you really see the consequences exactly you know you probably aren't going to learn it yeah um but he's learned this like I don't think he's ever going to fall asleep on the duty again these learn this lesson yeah uh we're out plowing the fields there's a horse kikuchio notices the horse it's yo hay's horse I think yo hay for a scared as he is it's clearly an important dude in the village yes he is yeah um and kambay and grobe are kind of watching all the work and they say okay we're you know we're gonna have to flood this area and they do and we we flood the area we've got these bamboo spears that are sharpened for defense um and yet in all of this preparation for war we have kids singing and playing and the peasants are now beating the grain and one of them says why it's bandits here yeah wouldn't this be a waste if they never came I love that line because it is exactly how you would feel how human beings some human beings rather would feel about it oh we wasted all this money for what yeah and then of course another human being steps in it goes you idiot you don't want the bandits to come yes exactly um to shira wants to ride that horse yeah again it's the comedy right and everybody watches he gets on that horse and he gallops off and and the samurai like hey he's riding pretty well and you go behind a building and the horse comes out the other side with a limping to shira bufli chasing after it's wearing after it's a great great little bit and the farmers are all laughing and the samurai are laughing and this is like we've come together yeah we are one we're one unit now we become one happy army at this point and now we hear uh one of the samurai says the kambai you know some people saying the bandits might not come and he says attempting thought but when you think your most safe is when you're most vulnerable put them in their places I wrote that down in my notes yeah uh for my life oh yeah when you think you're most safe you're most vulnerable yeah it is took I mean you've heard my theory before of this is why old people drive slow yeah is that when you're young you're like you're obviously invulnerable right drive a hundred miles an hour climb that cliff jump off that thing take all sorts of drugs and drinking and stay up late and do all sorts of stuff because you haven't seen the consequences right by the time you get to our age or 60 or seven year you've had people get hurt and died and go to jail and you know divorce and so a whole bunch of crap happened and so you're like the world is dangerous we have to drive really slow we really get something back to happen at any possible moment katsushiro and shinoe are in the woods yeah the music is beautiful the lighting is beautiful the scenery is beautiful and she sits down and he sits next to her and lies down in the flowers and she looks down at him and says I wish I'd been born into a samurai family uh if there's not a statement of love that's it you know what I mean and he says you know we say like a farmer's life is cruel and he says my life has been so easy I feel ashamed boy he's learned some stuff yeah I think yeah because he thinks and this is what's such good writing what she's saying is I wish we could be together and what he is hearing is life would be easier if I had been born into a samurai family interesting I don't know if I 100% agree I think she's saying I wish I'd be born a samurai because she wouldn't so she wouldn't be a farmer wouldn't have to live this life wouldn't have to be a slave to the system that she's currently in but that's interesting but her next line is that's not what I meant it's because you're a samurai yeah I'm a farmer right he's she's saying it's because we can't be together okay there's a female samurai it's weird well but you could be in it but she could marry a samurai she can't yes if she was a man can't marry a samurai okay and and by the way there are female samurai they are oh absolutely oh fantastic yeah in fact they were trained the weapon they would normally train with is the Naginata which was like a big pole with what essentially is a katana at the end of it nice and you could look at there are I mean they're definitely different roles for women and men within samurai culture all right well I'm gonna write that now seven female samurai don't don't say you're hurting your first copyright 2020 this in files um John Roca sorry I don't need to credit it's please yeah and then this next moment happens is she throws herself down onto the ground and she's breathing heavily heavily and she looks up at him and she starts crying she's a shaped and then he doesn't do anything right he doesn't know what to do right he doesn't know what's happening at this moment welcome to female emotions and die and then she starts laughing and then she covers her face and she says coward act like a samurai yeah and this is this is a whole weird moment because this is all this is a weird moment but I find it fascinating yes absolutely because she is essentially surrounding herself to him but she's surrounding herself in a way that she isn't sure why she's doing it she's just frustrated about her condition in her situation so the the laughing is almost maniacal because she has no way out and it's frustrating her and it must be a right a passage for a lot of young people in a farming village who get a taste of what the outside world can be and can't do that you know well well here's what I say so she her mom is we're soon dead or going somewhere she's rated by Monzo who is not the most touchy feeling of no and particularly in this era I'm going like what does she know about sex right I think the only thing she knows about sex is that the bandits and the samurai want to rape you yes that's that's what Monzo has told her over and over and again and now she's fallen in love with this man and he is a samurai and she doesn't know anything about how anything is supposed to work right and so she lies down and says coward act like a samurai I think she is asking she wants to make love to him but she doesn't have those that language she has those words she has everything else all she knows is that that this guy is supposed to take her by force and so she is afraid and excited and in love and emotional right and he is looking at this going like what do I do yeah they're both young people right he has no concept about handle this and obviously she's going through a range of emotions that she has no idea control either so yeah and then just in this moment where maybe something is about to happen what I find interesting first we hear the horse yeah they don't hear and what it's so great about that is if you heard it right away if they heard it right away you deny the audience the oh shit if we hear it and they don't we have a moment five seconds long of oh shit right the bandits are here before they do right but then they of course hear it and they run up and this beautiful again saying the shots is beautiful it's totally redundant at this point but then running up through the woods through the brambles and that there's like a long shot in the camera tits down and there's the horses in the foreground and they're in the background and they see it and they run away and we wipe to shichiroji there's the guy's name point I couldn't remember shichiroji enters and bows with kambai and says you know three suspicious characters are spot in the woods all of this whole sequence yeah kambai goes well do the villagers know and he goes not yet and he says good we can't you know we don't want to sound the alarm we want to stay quiet and in walks katsushiro run in runs katsushiro freaked out yeah and he says the same thing and then in runs kill so and he says so they're here and kambai's like well how do you know and he says well how could I not this one here was in such a panic yeah and then the next moment is we're figuring that out and watch a hotchi and rikichi because now clearly everyone knows everyone knows they run outside and the villagers are all running around everyone sort of in a panic and kambai's like look they're probably scouts and we can't let them report back and they rush out to where they are and to shiro is now also here heard that there's these guys are coming and he is excited yeah grabs big sword says where are they and kambai and our samurai are quietly moved into this house i think this is on the west and they're observing the scouts who are on the outside of the fence and we're like okay we're gonna quietly take them out they don't know we're here yet we have to not let them know that samurai are here and who walks in loudly kikuchio where is everyone thank you idiot yeah and and we go too late they've seen as the bandits all run away and kambai says if they report back that samurai are here we're finished and kyozo without missy and beat says all kill them yeah the mountains are my territory and he's gone there's never a moment with him of decisiveness right you know and kikuchio's kind of going sorry and kambai says we'll make up for it by getting one yeah and then katsushiro wants to go he goes oh he can go but only to observe right uh and off they go and they get to where the horses are and kyozo tells katsushiro to hide what she does behind a tree and kyozo asks uh kikuchio what's he's gonna do and kikuchio goes who me climbs up a tree and what does kyozo do just sit quietly by that tree almost asleep yep patiently i what the there's a moment in signs of the lambs where the the the the nasty psychiatrist is talking about Hannibal actor killing someone and he's describing the horrific things that he's doing he was on a heart monitor and his heart mount heart rate never went above 80 or something like that yeah what do the kyozo's heart rate is is he sits beneath this tree even lower than that probably it's like 50 45 but because he knows this he'll make a quick work of these guys there no challenge to him but he's also been in so many of these places he knows it's also it's almost like a eyes awake meditation that's what that's what i was gonna read yeah okay i mean because that that you know meditation and zen and quietness they're all like sitting quietly lowering your breathing lowering your heart rate i think he goes immediately into that state yeah you know of just peace quiet you know completely awake and completely not expanding energy whatsoever yeah and kikuchio the other hand is up a tree looking around and we and we have the shot and again we have a shot behind katsu shiro as he is observing some of this what's so brilliant about this shot is a very limited range of view it's a it's not a wide angle shot we can't see very much and that makes us more scared yeah but i also think what's brilliant here steve is the framing is also conveying the emotion the down emotion of of what's the character's name again kiosa of kiosa versus uh to cheer mufuni being up in that tree right his and highs his emotions are high homies emotions are low and chill so it's almost like conveying what's actually happening within both internally and katsu shiro looking between the two yes yeah you know because that's the two ways to go yeah yeah and and on a lot of levels i think he loves both these guys yes for different reasons you know like he admires kiosa like you know that is the that is the ideal yes but katsu shiro is brave and aggressive and outgoing and extroverted and you know free you know all these ways that katsu shiro on his very probably controlled upbringing is not yeah you know and the band has come up and kioso he's up kills one on the draw instantly chases the other guy to a tree kills him you know super fast yeah man kikuchio drops down on that other guy just starts beating the ground start pummeling him yeah wipe two we're in the village that bandit is hog tied and the farmers are going nuts yeah yeah because he's the representative of probably years of destruction and violence and rape and you know the the starvation on their part because they're losing their food and this guy is it and they want to rip him to pieces and come up it's a mob oh 100% and kambai says no this guy has surrendered to us he's giving us information we cannot kill him and all the same right holding these people back rikichi is like good to go yeah like he wants to kill him and then in all this case this is what kursa does so beautifully over and over in all the case and all the loudness and all the stuff suddenly silenced yeah and there is the old woman the grandmother whose son was killed and she's carrying like a farm implement um and she's walking forward that's insane is it a beautiful image she's almost I mean and when we see that scene with her and the rice and her talking about her pain in the first section of the movie it's almost like uh kursawa is showing you what he's going to do later and throw in a blood with the witches she's almost witch-like in that way and so when she shows up walking with the hair and she's old and that prong that has more uh I don't know more prong that whatever the farming tool is has more prongs on her that she has teeth in her mouth she's coming to have her and it's heartbreaking it is heartbreaking because she's an old lady what is she actually going to do but is the symbolic nature of getting some measure of revenge for the years of pain she suffered from the death of her son to at least and probably a lot more stuff yes probably a whole long what they said her whole family yeah and she's the only one alive and the samurai who've been saying no we can't let we can't let they stand aside yep rikichi runs right in and then everyone else just comes in and just destroys this guy yeah it's it's you know we talked about it's come up lots of times on the podcast is that this idea that I learned from my sound teacher that in order to have David Bundlevich he'll give another shout out is that in order to have loud we must have quiet is that one of the things we don't talk that much about Kurosawa is sound design and I would say that it's the sound chaos and the physical visual chaos that we've seen in the scene moving into the quiet and the simplicity that gives this it's emotional weight and there's another moment that's coming later on in the film that I think is very much like this and we talked about when we talked in our podcast about Kurosawa about Ron at that moment when we go from music into in that huge battle into realistic sound and it is so and clearly Kurosawa gets this on just like a deep deep fundamental level yeah and this is like this is the master filmmaker stuff you know it's it's not just the gorgeous shot although the shots are gorgeous it's not just the great performances of the great script it's the details in the editing and the sound design and the and the conceptualization of this moment chaos and loud right to simplicity and quiet and that's what makes it hit you like a wallop which it does hey everyone john and steve back with you to talk about true diagnostic you know great sponsor here on the cine files this is chronological age is your birthday but biological age is how old your body actually is and it is the strongest predictor of disease risk and mortality and Steve we're going into the new year we're wrapping up 2025 going into 2026 and I know a lot of people want to focus on you know health stuff and being more nutritious and and a good way you can develop a plan for yourself is to be aware of the state of your body is in so what are your thoughts on this as it appears as it pertains to true diagnostic well the thing is out in the world it's almost overwhelming how much information there is and a lot of it false 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listens to all of his officers he rubs his head and then he says okay let's do it yeah and kiozo and hehachi with rikichi as guide are going to go and then kikuchio wants to go to and they go okay well you could use yohe's horse because we captured some horses from the other samurai right because he's obviously the only person who could master that steed and now we get as they ride off another great piece of comedy which is we see the three horses go by fast and we see the shirma foony on that nag yeah trying to keep up the nag stops he can't get in a go he jumps off he's swearing at it he slaps it on the rump the horse takes off and then there's so much makes me laugh so much to shirma foony running after saying I'm sorry apologize apologize yet another lesson for him to learn exactly that's great the camera tilts down from them riding down to this waterfall and we see them sneaking up and now we've reached the bandits hide out I love this set piece by the way amazing right it's great set design it's weird it's so different from what we've seen in the movie up until this point there is no vegetation other than these dead trees roman are that are right there in the water and it's just this thing in the middle of the this valley and this rock and stone thing and this building built into the into the mountain yeah exactly which and by the way should say which we didn't say in the last episode all of this is built yes this is not found sets and this is all built completely chorus hour really believe that that great sets and detail makes the performance is better yeah and so it's not they didn't just build one side of a building or build an exterior everything is built a hundred percent realistically with those techniques and the buildings are complete and this was two the only they built some of the mount top I believe out of ten above it to like kind of make that shape yeah and they build us underneath and it's it's obviously very very early in the morning and we sneak up and kind of look through the the wooden slats in the building and we see body parts yeah and I don't I'm sorry I don't mean to say like disconnect and we see no no legs and people asleep we see well yeah in various stages of undress and some of them are women yes and they look in and Tashiro Mufuni is excited because he's I think he's titillated to some degree by what he sees you know because we talked about why did he become a samurai and I think part of it is women you know I mean clearly his desire to find girls I mean not that for a young man to be interested women is not an unusual thing but like here he looks into this thing he sees all this stuff and he's the guy who comes up with the idea let's light it on fire right and kill him when they come out and the samurai the other two seasoned samurai agree yeah that's a really interesting moment for Kikuchi O to be able to suggest something and you have the seasoned samurai go along with it yeah and so and then what happens next is so I think this movie goes next level in this thing yeah because and it goes to a place that's totally unexpected and so powerful and so weird and so not so real but like yes I would say that yeah because it mirrors what happens with and he has this tendency and I want to explore that with Kurosawa what is his like tendency to go to almost these theatrical yeah like yeah yeah because then you have what we find out is Rikichi's wife kind of get up and stare at this flame what is why is she staring at this flame what are the thoughts in her head we put that on as an audience as we're watching her in this situation well because thinking about shame or is she missing her home is she going crazy those kinds of things we have to assume that she's been here almost a year at least a year right because we know that when the bandage showed up they said oh we can't we we stole their rice next last fall we can't wait until we can't come back until after the barley right so at least it's been nine months to a year it could have been three years right where she has been a slave a sexual slave you know repeatedly raped by these bandits yeah so what when she sits up what her world is and what her life is and what her mental state is and then she looks over and she sees something and she recoils at first and it is the fire yeah and then what's so remarkable she should scream hey fire right but she doesn't she go you could see on her face that she goes yes almost a maniacal almost a mania in her face but what is also interesting here is Steve is she's fully clothed yep everyone else is lying about in various stages of undress is she the leader's woman that is a great question right because she is possible off by herself she's in a separate kind of a curtained area see through curtained area and she's fully dressed in her kimono or whatever she's wearing and when she rises it doesn't fall off of her so she still has a level of dignity here and she stares at that flame and then when she sees the fire you can think to yourself also does she think in her head that she manifested the fire by staring at that flame you get her out of this condition and so when the mania goes over her face is she almost crazed at what's happened well and i think i like that you said dignity because despite everything that's happened to her and despite the fact that she probably is in many ways broken yes there's tremendous strength and dignity within this character yep and by the way the music which is this ethereal flute and drum that is very it's mystical it goes into this deep deep feeling you know it is not we're not in an adventure film right now yeah we're into some heavy heavy stuff and otherworldly and this crazed crazed look comes over her face and the samurai are three samurai are just watching yeah they're just looking in and then rakiachi comes rakiachi comes forward because he's obviously the guy that started the fire yeah and the women start to pour out of this place and the guys who are mostly in loincloth start to run out because the building is on fire and our samurai just cut them down yep and there i will say there is nothing that feels heroic in this scene you know what i mean these are the bad guys yeah and they have raped and killed and they deserve what they are getting but i don't feel like yeah that's not how i'm feeling watching this right well i think having that scene with the with the woman rakiachi's wife in there does it let you feel that way well and they're unarmed and we're cutting your killing them from the behind and i don't have a problem with that i don't have a problem with it but i agree there's not heroic but it doesn't feel i'm not thrilled right you know what i mean like you let's get them right i feel like this is what is the right thing to do this is what's required yes at this moment you know yeah but it's not fun to watch right for me um and they kind of chase them into the stream and they're kind of cutting these people down yeah and we feel i mean what i will say is like this we're winning yes there's a great plan everything is working out and then rakiachi looks up and he sees something well they run behind the rock right right they hear a gunshot so they don't want to get shot because they know they're at muskets and then yes rakiachi sees something and he stands up and it's this woman and this is the moment this is the moment i would say where you go oh that's what yeah because it's been well set up between the kimono and you should get a woman and rakiachi not talking about it being angry right and we go oh no and he runs to her and she sees him and the terror on her face and because i think at this moment she was free you know what i mean right but to become face to face with what she sees is your your humiliation her shame her shame yeah we're embarrassed even though of course it wasn't his fault no it's not her fault right i mean this is a woman her fault yeah yeah she was attacked in table it's not rakiachi's fault nobody's fault yeah except the bandits fault you know and yet and what does she do in this moment she turns and runs into the flames right it is just a stunning horrible painful difficult moment and he tries to chase after her he can he can't the flames are too much so let's talk about this fire so this was a real fire they really burnt this place down in general when you burn a big building down you only gonna do that once right of course i would which he liked to do he had a lot of cameras on this and he had his stunt guys and they set up the fire and uh they put gasoline on the wood and on the building and set everything to burn and then we were waiting for the fire trucks because you don't want to have a big fire in the woods without some fire trucks to invite a put out the fire to make sure everything gets you know stays under control so of course i was saying it while they're waiting for fire trucks did we really put enough gasoline it's so he and his guys go and spray more gasoline she's over everything and this fire was big yeah and really hot and really scary and apparently when the actor playing rikichi ran to go the woman goes in and she has kind of a safe place to go to and she drops that piece of her kimono which apparently burst right into flames that's how hot this was wow and rikichi runs in after and as he yells and then inhales he inhales gas that is so hot it burns his whole throat like when he goes down on the ground he is severely burnt wow this guy my understanding is that his voice changed for the rest of his life because of this moment oh like it was so and of course kurosawa and this is this this is what directors do sometimes he said keep filming because you know and this is uh francesford copula telling martin sheen to keep acting when after he cut his hand and lock lips now this is you know but you know cobalt copula said i don't know what kurosawa said copula said if i didn't keep filming that moment it would be in a betrayal of martin you know but it's also self-motivated because he wants to get the good stuff in his movie right uh and what he says after the they finish filming the scene and the firemen are there and they're putting everything out and everyone is mostly okay except for rikichi who's throat is burned kurosawa just burst out in tears and weeps over what happened oh wow because it was so scary and i'd say he says this is the scariest moment in anything he's ever filmed wow was this thing burning uh hey hotchi runs up to grab rikichi and pull him away and he forces him down and just as he forces rikichi into safety a gunshot and he hotchi falls it's so unexpected yeah it is so because we won yeah you know and we're so involved in this emotional thing with the wife right and then bang and it's the sweetest and the nicest of all the samurai he's the guy the most dope i guess the guy was gonna help us in hard times yes and kikuchi you know it's pissed at rikichi and a drag rikichi and a hotchi away and kikuchi's kikuchi is all over rikichi says you stupid fool look what you've done and he says she's my wife and drops down and as kikuchi and kiozo are dealing with that information hey hotchi just falls over and we know that he's dead yeah just the the wailing that goes on in that moment when they're trying to scream for him to come back to life and not be dead and all like it's just so painful um so right there that happiness that we were experiencing in the first few minutes coming back to the intermission is completely shattered by the reality of what this battle is going to be it's almost foreshadowing the losses and the pain and the sadness that has come i think one of the things kurosawa does so well i mean i think you probably knew going into this that not all these guys are going to make it out right each one of the deaths that we're going to get hits so hard and they all hit in their own way they all because they're really their own people and you know sort of like i wonder how you they have the conversation like okay who are you going to kill right because that's what you got to talk about you know and there are lots of movies that are like this where we know we're going to lose a few people right you know whether it's aliens or Avengers or whoever the who we gonna and i think they managed to kill people that hit me right in the heart i don't know if it would have been different if they killed other people but this one is rough i don't feel the deaths in magnifs and seven as well as i it's no powerfully as i feel them here you know no not at all but the james colburn death certainly the charles bronze and charles broncens the the one that really hits exactly that's the one that's most mirrors the death of any of the deaths you see in seven samurai emotionally yeah but the rubber bond that doesn't it's a good it's a cool death for a badass you know guy who was scared to draw his gun right and then he draws his gun and kills all the guys and we go oh he's one and then he dies and it's like that's a satisfying adventure death true that's true but i'm not like oh well that oh shit you're right not him no but hey hotchi in this moment yeah and then we cut to the funeral yeah you know i love the mounds man i really that's the thing that sticks with me all the time the mounds and the and then i'm sorry good Steve no no you don't just want us to the mounds and then having a mifuni stick that sword in yeah as i'm as a symbol of respect you know and and he's overwhelmed and the peasants are overwhelmed and the framing of the shot this is such an unusual shot and this is one where the four by three aspect ratio the verticality of it going up that hill with the farmers on the right all kneeling and kikuchio kneeling with the sword and the samurai standing in the upper left hand corner like the framing of this is just yeah it's so stunning to look up at this image yeah and and that's then convey says what i just said you said he'd be a treasure in hard times the hard times have only just begun and kikuchio starts to get mad stop crying stop crying you fools and he yells at all of them and then runs off screen and he runs through the village and he goes into the the what their hut yeah and finds that banner and the wind is blowing of course and the dust is swirling and he climbs up that that's roof of the hut and plants that flag into the top of the hut and the moment and we're hearing that samurai music as sort of a dirge as solemn as slow and then kambai looks over and sees kikuchio standing on the hut with the banner and everyone looks up and that's music changes and suddenly it's taken over by that trumpet and suddenly it's gone from a dirge to a battle cry yeah and we hear it and we hear that theme as we never hear it anywhere else in the film and it ends on that high note and it is so fucking powerful it's an amazing film moment and it's it's so once again the pacing and the emotional journey curious how it takes us on is so brilliant in this movie we are happy then we are incredibly devastated and because we're devastated because we loved this samurai because you chose this samurai the most jovily of them all the sweetest smile of them all because you chose that one to kill the battle cry works we are now inspired to see these bandits die yeah and not just out of and they all come together because at the beginning it's like well the samurai here out of some sense of duty and this is the right thing and the farmers out of some sense of self you know preservation yeah right and then we come together as a group we actually kind of like each other yeah but then it's through tragedy well and then even before that combat forces them you have to work together or I'll kill you right that's the intermission then we come together kind of joyfully and as friends and as people who care about each other but that is what not not what unifies them for battle this is yeah and I think it's when kakuchio finally becomes a full member of the seven samurai because even combat is look at him is one of pride absolutely 100% because nobody could do this other than kakuchio right combat wouldn't think of doing it as thoughtful as he is and brilliant as he is well there's an there's a loss of nobility in him having to do it right whereas kakuchio makes sense to do it yeah and what's the next moment the bandits are coming yep and kakuchio is thrilled and he is excited he's never afraid no it's incredible through the whole movie he's never afraid and usually characters like this Steve are played to be fools that rush in where angels fear to try and get kids wiped out he certainly rushes in where angels fear to try right but he always finds his way out until his ending and yeah well and and that's the thing there are all sorts of negative things we could say about his character but cowardice is not one of them yeah not at all and the samurai get everybody into their post and we get the first attack and i think and i didn't go back and confirm it i think the order that the bandits attack is the same order that combat mapped out as west south east and north on the north yeah i think it's the same because we we definitely start with west which is the fence that shichi roji uh built and as the bandits are coming in and sort of testing the fence we report to kakuchio their numbers and that they have three muskets and the bandits get up and they right away and kakuchio runs the combat and he gives his report they're 13 of them they're three muskets and combat says okay good take garobay to the east garobay has a bow bow and arrow and they head out to the area that was flooded and a bandit goes out to test the depth of the water and garobay smiles because this is the plan the plan is exactly right and he draws that arrow and kills that guy who's testing the water and the bandits retreat now we're down to twelve kakuchio tells combat that uh he says they're 12 he says oh i thought it was 13 he's like got one with an arrow and combat laughs good old garobay and he crosses off circles on this uh map on this banner and says make sure that the bridge is out and watch for muskets and he runs off and garobay approaches and he says take men to the north that's where the real attack will be yeah which has always been the plan and garobay says well if you knew that then if you knew that was where they would attack why not build a fence there and combat his responses every good castle needs a breach let the enemy in and destroy them where you choose you can't win a war by defense that's a great line yeah and what i here's what here's the thing i love about this there are tremendous acts of courage in this film there are tremendous acts of personal skill kiozo and and with garobay and kambay there's definitely acts of that yeah this battle is one by intelligence and strategy yes without kambay's plan none of that other stuff matters oh yeah you know oh yeah and if you look at like if you look i would say most action films today most adventure films today the emphasis is always on the moments of personal skill and courage and those are great moments but much less so on what this is about which is the plan yeah and executing the plan as a unit it's one of the things i love about this film yeah we're with kikuchio he walks out he they're taking apart the bridge katsu shiro comes up to give him the report he's like i know he's like well remember about the muskets i know that too yeah and then we hear a baby crying an upcoming this husband of wife and they're looking for the old man because he's still out in the mill and we're out on the bridge that we're going to take down that was going to isolate all these other houses including the mill and kikuchio lets them go ahead kambay would not have let them go right and this is one of the mistakes um and grobo grobo and kiozo head to the north and we talk about how many troops are left and they look at their the farmers and the farmers are scared yeah and then they hear shichiroji uh who's leading chairs and grobo goes that's a great idea hey guys come on out let's lead some chairs and they lead chairs and then back with kikuchio who's still destroying the bridge he goes well they can't do chairs better than us we got to lead chairs i'm sure when you're in basic yes chanted stuff you yeah of course stuff yeah you want to be the most and they do that they make you chant louder they make you chant harder more aggressively blah blah blah to show how devoted or dedicated you are to showing how ready you are for battling well and there are studies that if you you know the fake it till you make it works if you start yelling yeah the adrenaline starts to drop and you start to not be as afraid like yelling together sitting quietly by yourself being scared or yelling together as a group are different yeah and so this is definitely correct and then the horses are coming towards kikuchio so he goes and he gets down and safety and he gets good cover to protect himself because that's a reasonable thing to do right right no he stands up right it was stride swagger yeah out onto the to the most vulnerable spot it stands there does he actually like kind of turn and slap his ass I feel he does he does yeah he's right on this right part yeah um and then a gunshot right and then another gunshot and he jumps behind cover and they look out and those houses are burning yeah and the mill is burning this whole set the this was the the farm village was built on five separate locations wow all edited together seamlessly I mean this is a huge huge production and all built to the most perfect detail you'll hey tries to run away kikuchio brings him back and then all the villagers are upset because they look out and the mill is burning yeah and combo is there and he doesn't know what to say and the farmer runs up and says get back to your post don't worry about it's nothing and that's the farmer who had wanted to desert right to protect his house yeah again even the little stories we're gonna get a beginning middle and an end yeah but the mill is burning in kikuchio goes well what happened to that man and his wife and the old man and the baby did they come back no and combo says stay at your post and kikuchio runs away yeah runs off to the mill again you know these are the lessons he's gonna have to learn yeah and he runs out there and we hear a baby screaming yeah and combo has followed behind and we see a woman the woman the mother come out cradling her baby she holds the baby out to kikuchio and then she falls into the stream this moment is shattering absolutely because they're both marveled at the fact that she was able to survive with the spearing which we find out she's spearing in the exchange uh combat picks her up puts her over her shoulders but kikuchio absolutely shatters here because finally what we had been building to throughout the entire movie is the mystery of kikuchio one foot in one foot out we assumed his family had been killed by these bandits he was a farmer blah blah wanted to be a samurai wanted to be a bandit maybe something finding some kind of purpose in the world to kind of meaning in the world to try to take revenge when he holds that baby all of it disappears and it's very reminiscent to the moment in Ratatouille when the critic eats the food for the first time he goes all the way back to being 10 years old when he holds that baby I started crying this is the only time I got emotional watching the movie this time around was when he held the baby and he just broke down he said this baby is me this is me and there is so much weight in holding that child for him uh it's incredible it's incredible to see him reduce to that moment and it's it's authentic it's not played for laughs or jokes or up too much emotion it's played for real honesty in that moment I think it's maybe his well no I'm gonna change what I'm gonna say it is his most honest moment throughout the film agreed and and and so much of everything else with him is all about him wanting people to think certain things about him is that he's putting forth a front yeah and and the reason I pulled back a little of us like well is it honest when he says stop crying or when he runs up to the top of the hut with the banner it is but even stop crying is he's crying right he's talking himself so there's still like this complexity within it and most of the time he's going no I'm a samurai no I'm brave no I'm smart no I'm qualified no I'm all these things right and a lot of them are not true and in this moment this baby is me that is the real truth yep that is so and you see it on combat face and you see as he's holding that kid and said this is what happened to me yeah and the thing that I think that I don't think we know was his family killed by bandits or samurai I don't know right I don't know I feel you could say it was bandits which is why he wanted to become a samurai not a bandit but I don't know but he also knows all the horrible things samurai do he does you know so he's witnessed that as well yeah I don't I don't think we and and one of the things about this film is like we can say the bandits are bad people right but we can also say there are a lot of samurai that are just as bad yes you know and Kikuccio more than anybody knows that right you know the moment's just stunning and then there you know we kind of have this shot of the wagon wheel of the water wheel and then we wipe and it's later and Yohei is at his post and there's just another amazing shot of Kikuccio in the foreground there's a fire behind him and he's surrounded by all the farmers all with their spears and the spears almost form a circle and it almost looks like the spokes of a wheel to me with Kikuccio sort of at the hub it's just again just beautiful and we're waiting we're waiting for the bandits to come and we think he thinks he hears something and no maybe he didn't and then he gets up and he throws some fire out and suddenly we see it's almost like in aliens yeah where suddenly you see the aliens are coming in that's kind of how it looks yeah of them coming up through the fence at Kikuccio grabs a sword they kind of fight the bandits away and scare them away don't think we kill any of them until we see Yohei right if he has a look of total frozen terror on his face the cameras with Kikuccio he walks to the end of Yohei's spear and we see up the other end of his spear Yohei killed to do yep that's awesome and again we go right from a hugely emotional scene to a really funny moment with Yohei now the bandits are attacking the fence and climbing over and the farmers are lying and waiting in attack and this is Shichiroji's post and they kill the bandits as they try to escape and it's a lot of farmers against just a few bandits yeah and it is brutal it is not romantic it is this is what happens when you invade our village and we will wipe you out and Shichiroji is spearing one through the fence and by the way his form which we see him use this for many many times we see it when when they found the hidden armor and Shichiroji throws a spear out towards the farmers and we see it now this dude is trained that is a very specific spear thrust that I recognize and it looks powerful and scary and he has done it you could see in the way this guy is done and he's done it 10,000 times yeah yeah and no one's wounded wounded we did it and then they smell gunpowder and everyone takes cover and one peasant gets hit oh my god it's monzo monzo got hit are you okay are you okay monzo it's like a flea bite yeah you're fine bring me shinoe uh more bandits are getting killed in the water and rekeechi is there killing and enjoying it yep and combat says stop you don't have to chase them all down and that's far enough we've won who are you because he doesn't recognize right and we see rekeechi turn around and he is crazed yeah yeah and completely motivatingly correctly so combat crosses off more circles and now he says they've attacked from the east west and south and run away with their tail between their legs this is the only approach left we don't know when they'll come but when they do they'll mass their forces and I love the look they look down the pathway which is lit by fires by these big bonfires again beautiful and combat is confident this is going to be the focus of the attack and he's going to prove it and here comes katsushura with basically a samurai scarecrow and he's running to bring it to combat and who steps in front of him but shinoe and there's a moment and she steps towards him it's a longland shot so it sort of compresses space and then they circle around each other he runs forward out of frame she follows and runs up into a close up beautifully constructed shot and he joins the other samurai with the dummy and combat gives him some instructions and he leans that samurai out and there's a long pause and bang and then I love that the camera is on that samurai dummy and it drops down to the earth and then the camera and the camera tilts down and falls it and then he drags it back to combat and the camera goes with the samurai and then back up to combat it's a great great shot and combat is like tomorrow morning they'll attack with everything they've got and we'll let them in and the farmers are like what and he now we hear the plan we let them in one at a time or maybe two and then we close up with a spear wall and we can take them out one at a time yeah easily but there's one problem the big problem is the muskets yeah three muskets there are three muskets um and Rikichi runs up and says I'll get them and Kyosho says no you are wanting to die I'll go and boom he's gone yeah into the fall yeah remember what Kamba said to Kikuchio about leaving his post and yeah apparently if you're Kyosho it's cool you just you you know he's gonna be totally fine yeah so he heads off and Katsushiro wants to go he's like no no you're not gone it's the next morning it's foggy it's quiet Katsushiro is anxious because he can't sleep because Kyosho has been gone for a long time and he says I hear footsteps no you don't there's no footsteps no I hear footsteps that Kamba is like no you don't you don't wait a minute I hear footsteps and then they look out on the fog and there's a long pause and he emerges from that fog almost like Omar Sharif appearing in the desert you don't even like yeah that's great you just go like ah there he is great and look and he he just walks up to Kamba hands on musket and says two more and then walks off to go to sleep and the look on Katsushiro's face the the wonder and the respect and the I mean it is pure admiration yeah it's reverence totally total reverence and Kyosho what's he doing he's leaning up against the saying to sleep trying to go to sleep and Katsushiro's staring at him with a look of total as you say reverence and Kyosho opens his eyes like what do you want I'm trying to go to state your business he says he says you are a magnificent person person yeah not even a samurai yeah person and there's kind of a reaction from Kyosho and he says I've wanted to tell you for a long time and then he walks away still kind of looking back almost like the look of love and I love this is someone who's like how are you gonna play it yeah just the little smile yep because and I love the smile because the smile is like oh he's not in human right he actually that did kind of tickle him a little bit we hear galloping hooves and instantly Kyosho's up and ready and here they come and and we give the order we're going to let one in and they do exactly that they let one horseman in and they block the rest with spears and again you know what I thought about Braveheart yeah Braveheart like you can't charge those spears all pointing at you makes perfect sense exactly and and you see how this strategy works suddenly it's one banded up against a shit ton of of farmers with spears and a couple of samurai these and then they wipe them out we go okay let's let another one in and the band is charged and the samurai chase and we hear a gunshot but we're okay and the bandit leader calls for another charge we're like okay another one come we're gonna send you another one and here they come but to get in this time yeah and Kyosho charges and almost gets hit by the horse these battle sequences are really crazy I don't know how they got away with this though well I'll tell you one of the things so first of all these are really dangerous yeah second of all I feel they're shot in a totally modern way that feels like handheld and close shots and it's not just kind of a setup perfect shot of the thing it's very chaotic um the editing is great but the other thing is really helping is long lenses because long lenses compress space so you know like the classic thing is if I'm gonna fake punch in you in the face well if I'm in a long lens behind me I could be three feet away from you and you won't be able to tell difference if I'm in a wide lens then I have to be really close to you in order to make it work there's a lot of long lens shots yeah so shots where you see the horse is going right by someone they're actually looks like their inches apart they're actually could have been feet apart and we wouldn't know the difference yeah outside the farmers are chasing back the riders and there's this one horse that is rearing and kicking at yeah that again looks really really scary it's a scary thing and that right and that rider goes through and the rider is sort of slouched and we're going oh wait is the rider dead is the horse trying to kick the rider off is that's what's happening and then Kikuchio tries to attack and the horse moves and that that guy falls off the horse and I love Kikuchio's line have you trouble with your horsey now it's later and we say they're not gonna fall for that trick again and they look out in the quiet woods and there's a wipe and Kamba says that little skirmish got them four and we add that kiosos to and we cross out six more people and then we're down to 22 this going great yeah I think that's how you really feel at this moment like wow this is we haven't had any bit since a hotchi yeah it hasn't been a real cost of this Kamba's plan is working really well this is going to go really well and then cuts his shiro's talking to Kikuchio sort of reclining in a tree and he's basically going that kioso guys he's great he's like the real deal he didn't boast he walked into a wood filled with bandits as if he was on a mushroom hunt so I don't know mushroom hunts were a big deal but apparently I love to share my footy's response fascinating I'm not bored at all I swear yeah and katsu shiro is a little grumpy by this and he walks away and Kikuchio who's been like trying to sleep this whole time suddenly his eyes pop right open and he sits up because he was really listening yeah because what does he want he wants that admiration yeah he wants the adulation he wants someone to think of him the way that they think of kiosos yeah and he goes over to yohei and says who's trying on some armor and he says you're in charge and he leaves his post and he heads up into the woods again again yeah and this sequence is so great and so and even though I'm going like kikuchio don't leave your post like kamba is the boss you got to talk to the general the sequence is awesome yeah he runs up the hills he comes up through a bramble we see him through a branches and what we're kind of the cameras like up at a tree and we see him in the distance and we see him walk across around and then we see him get to the tree that we're in and then he climbs up the tree and the camera pans up with him so that he's just in the foreground and now we're seeing the horses in the background it's a really really cool shot and what we see is a bunch of bandits running to their horses and suddenly gunshot and one of them goes down and the other hope guy manages to get on his horse and he starts riding away and then another gunshot and he goes down yeah and kikuchio is going what's going on and up comes our head bandit and he says if anybody else tries to run this is what they're going to get and he pulls out a sword and starts chopping it one of the dead bandits and we suddenly know like oh not all is good with our bandits right and they go away and kikuchio comes down and trades his bandana for this guy's kind of half helmet which fits him perfectly and the music is very different and then he runs down his down the hill and we get a great another you know shot there are a lot of buns in this movie yes there are I remember the first time I saw it and I found that it was weird you know because it's just not something we see an American film or American world and it's just such a I think it's great because you just kind of like at a certain point you just go yeah whatever everyone's got buns and then we see one of the musket bandits and he's sort of obviously on as a lookout or a you know a century and he's got one of the things is so interesting is how they fire the musket which is they had a fuse that was always lit and then they would touch it to the touch hole it was because they didn't have the abrasive spark making technology at this point right so I don't this wasn't caught this is before a flint this is called a match lock I think not a flint lock I think someone could correct me and we hear someone say hey you know what's up and he goes oh you know he starts talking to somebody hasn't seen it is it's just man the farmers are a pain and the person who's talking to comes down and of course it's kikuchio right this moment is awesome yeah I love this scene so much because the guy without looking at who's sitting there he just assumes it's a bandit's it yes to him and they start talking about you know it won't be long now and kikuchio just reaches over to look at the musket as you do and the bandit says everything's upside down they they burn us out and we starve like farmers and kikuchio quit says quit your moaning there are better times ahead and he pulls out his long sword and only then it's the bandit look over go who's the sky sit next to me and then oh shit and he runs away and kikuchio cuts him down yep it's so funny he's done everything that kiozo is done in less amount of time yep and in his mind he thinks he's bested kiozo by doing it quicker and getting that musket well and he does it in his own kikuch like kiozo never do this he could do this no kiozo would just wait he would just wait yeah where where's this is like you know this is guile and and also fun yeah like kikuchio wants to he he thinks this whole thing is fun yeah you know and then we cut two we're back at that sort of border and combat gets up and they seek kikuchio and he's being chased by bandits and he kneels down far that musket which just knocks him over and then he runs back and he's laughing and he's smiling and combat is pissed yeah he calls him a fool why did you leave your posts and kikuchio is like I got the musket and he says don't scold me my post is fine which by the way it's not no and combat says there's nothing heroic about selfishly grabbing glory uh listen to me war is not fought alone and this is the you know it's funny you know I said the thing about strategy winning this thing yeah it's not it this is what combat saying is like this it's actually not about heroism or individual valor it's about the team and working together as a team yeah and kikuchio throws the musket away and that is when they're here yelling because the bandits are coming in yep and it's right through kikuchio's post and grova and kiozo go to block the road and we hear a musket and a single a single bandit comes in and kiozo takes him on and they push the others back the bandit the kiozo wounded gets through and who attacks him but the women yeah that is scary when they come out screaming with their you know farm implement their hose raised their you don't want to face that right it is rough and then at that moment we see a a bandit mounted on horse with a bone arrow right and this guy is going to be scary and he shoots a kiozo who dodges it which is pretty cool and then there is just chaos and kikuchio is yelling damn it where is yohei because he's blaming yohei for letting these guys in it's like no dude you were supposed to be there like honestly yohei like he's the guy who's gonna be in charge and the archer kills a woman yeah and then kills another by the way firing arrows from horseback I've always thought it's one of the coolest and looks like one of the most difficult things you could possibly imagine you can't really die from the arrow can you until like unless it hits you in the heart like getting a shot in the back you don't die in meetings on where you hit it I mean it depends on the poundage of the arrow first okay so one of the interesting things minor standing of japanese archery yeah is it's a fairly light bow is that it's a like particularly the really long bow it's really long but it's not a heavy pull still powerful and as opposed to like if you had like the Welsh crossbow men or or the Welsh archers that won the battle of ashencourt yeah those bows were like you know 150 pound pull wow I made up that number so they're like you and I could not pull this bow back wow no way I mean so yeah they would kill you no question about yeah so like you know it's any any projectile going into your body it of course it depends on where you hit but if it hits you in the gut yeah you're gonna die right at that time with that medical stuff oh yeah these things will kill you yeah you'll die eventually you don't die on impact just just like a bullet right depends on where you hit it yeah yeah I mean it can it can go right through your whole body depending on the weight of the bow and the sharpness of the arrow that is steves a bullshit account of archery that is what I believe I felt I said it with a lot of authority you did let me pull it back a little bit I just defer to you man um Karen sometimes calls this moris voice yeah speaks knowledge me about it and makes you believe that he might my sister and my dad had this voice too so sometimes you had to go hold on a second but yes that archer is wreaking havoc and then yo hey gets hit in the back by the archer and here's the he says the last thing he says is I defended my post yeah now he's wearing armor and the the the arrow goes into his back it's ill fitting armor yeah do we ever see yo hey again no he's done he does so does he die yes i that's what I thought too um so yeah and then kikuchio goes kind of nuts yes as shoot me and he grabs that archer rips him off the horse and kills him yeah but that archer did a lot of damage a lot of damage while he's in there another horseman is surrounded we attack from all sides we hear another musket and combat tells Shichi roji to take over and he and he and the three other samurai run to the other side where we're hearing the musket and kikuchio kamba and katsu shiro are in frame and kamba yells gorobay oh gorobay kamba and katsu shiro go out of frame to the right leaving kikuchio alone and and I think it's the way it's framed that they slowly go out of frame to the right that we hear gorobay that we suddenly go oh shit right and again it's a different way that we see the death because then we cut to the the farmers with gorobay lying on a you know a stretcher or whatever makes you have stretcher yeah yeah with his head towards us kind of tilted backwards and they're carrying him like paulbearers in a funeral and kikuchio drops to his knees and we know that gorobay has died right and it's handled totally differently from he hot still killed by a musket but it is just brutal it's also the first penetration of kamba's stoic stoic yes where he legitimately that's out emotion and sadness and screams of pain at the death of gorobay who's been his sergeant right for a number of battles is no no no no no gorobay is his second command okay he just mad who said surely you just when he came to the door got you that's gorobay yeah she she she she she had to ask the name of the guy whose name I can't remember shichiroji is this kind of the guy calling the sergeant so yeah so gorobay is the are you are you okay I don't know okay all right well what's your question like I think gorobay is the sergeant but then again no no you're right he's not he's not you're right I'm sorry yes gorobay so gorobay is the guy who comes as you had to be kidding but they become fast friends it's that's what it is it's that's my connection sorry about yes this is why I go like that's why I've kind of gone like shichiroji is more like a sergeant yeah because they're not at the same level right they can't be buddies whereas gorobay and him they they like read each other's mind right this is like as opposed to you know it's like there's a lot of people you've worked with a lot over the years it's not your best friend that's shichiroji they shared a lot together but there as opposed to the person who you're instantly sympathico with that's gorobay right and I think hey hachi was supposed to be a treasure in hard times because it was personality yeah not because he was a particularly good warrior or particularly useful in terms of battle gorobay that's different right this is the guy if combat gets killed gorobay takes over right now there's no who's going to take over you know kyozo maybe you know like that that he's not a leader he's a great swordsman right you know and so I think you're right this really does hit and it's later and we're at the burial mounds and kikuchio is alone at the burial month again weeping combat crosses out more circles we got thirteen left katsushiro is kind of wrecked by this whole thing and they look around at the farmers who are exhausted and combat knows that and he's kind of going so he's talking to kyozo who's kind of saying well what what's going to happen and combat says next time they come we'll fight to the finish better to fight it out before we're spent yeah because he knows the farmers are doing great but they're not going to last right like they don't have the training or the practice or the endurance or the endurance to do this yeah and kyozo asked when they're when when are they going to attack and combat does his calculation because well they're exhausted too they won't come tonight but they are out of food they're losing men they have to come soon I sail the come at us like hell tomorrow morning and they look at he calls to katsushiro who's asleep he repeats his name and he says height and then we go to a long shot of shichiroji and all the others and katsushiro comes and he says okay here are the orders leave two people to guard each the defenses and everyone else can go home and shifts and gets abreast yeah and shichiroji knows exactly what that means oh so the big attack will come tomorrow because he's an experienced soldier and he goes to monzo it says hey you go home first take a good look at your daughter I mean your son everyone laughs and we see kamba is katsushiro comes back and he tells him to get abreast and he asks about kikuchio kikuchio who's still behind the grave and kamba rubs his head katsushiro buy a fire and there's shino now dresses a woman the music plays she moves away from him towards this hut he moves forward she backs up we hear the flute playing we don't need words yeah it's just beautiful storytelling she goes into the hut looks out from the door and the disappears and he walks into the door there's the fire in the foreground and he steps in and closes the door behind and she says are we all going to die tomorrow and he said there's no way to know but we might and he nods and she embraces him and they fall down in the hay again saying the shot is beautiful is redundant but but this particular shot is beautiful in a particular way we're inside this hut that is lit from the outside and it has slats between the sticks or whatever so light is coming through from the outside so playing on them are these lines of light that is coming from the outside but the light is fire light so the lines of light are not solid and still but they're flickering and moving and then they're lying on hay which also is in lines but the lines don't line up they're not parallel or perpendicular with the lines of the light and so you have all of these lines across these two figures that are lying on the ground you know in a this romantic moment and it is I don't know any shot that looks like this it is just an amazing amazing shot and I want to take a moment here to tell you kids something there's a right time and a wrong time to have the first time with someone sexually I don't care what your sexual orientation is desperate in the middle of the forest with emotions raging all over the place is not the right time to do it quietly powerfully in a place where you're both in the same emotional wavelength that's the time to do it and that's the difference between the time she wanted them to do it in the forest versus this where they're both very much their gender roles like you said Steve her dress as a woman him dressed fully as a samurai after battle she opens the door she invites him in it's a softer love making process that mirrors the emotions are going on here versus the the main yeah that would have been the process and the fumbling around and the stumble and it would have been completely unsatisfying that would have happened in the forest earlier so this is the right time this is the right time okay because you at first I thought you were saying that this was the wrong time this is the right time because certainly there are overwhelmed by emotions and there's a whole bunch of crap going on here but but they are in the same place well and the thing too is like what she says of like we could all die tomorrow right yeah right that's also sort of the right time exactly what I mean exactly it's like they're you know it's like yeah they're we're on the same page here right um Rachel said it best the nighttime is the right time right time making love is the right time yeah the the bandits about to attack time is the right time that was the original lyric yeah it was the original it was it didn't fit I'm a big girl saw a fan Rachel's okay it went a little weird there for a moment that's fine it works but what else is where is that monzo right now is looking for his daughter yeah and what's so fun because I'm watching with Karen and she had seen it a long time ago but not recently and she went at this moment went oh no yeah yeah um combo and kio's a wake up to the farmers laughing and having a good time they got a big jug of something and some happy farmer walks up and says hey you want some of this and combo is like what is that sockie where'd you get sockie and holding out your little farmers um and he just smiles it goes away and then comes back with a tray of some delicacies I assume and come it goes yeah kiku kio was right they were holding out a bunch of stocks and stuff offers some sake de kiozo does he drink no dude's got a lighten up yeah well look the guy's awesome but I don't really want to hang out with him I feel like kiozo has a past where he's got all the stuff oh really so he knows what works from what doesn't now well actually you know Musashi Miyamoto didn't start off as some you know I mean he had to be he was the wild crazy angry dude yeah and then became the person that he became mom's still looking for Shino and what I'd like to is he sees a couple a man and a woman who run away obviously they're going off to have sex right which is a great foreshadowing and combo goes to kiku kio with the sockie officer to him no response and he says this is hardly like you you must rest for the battle tomorrow and kiku kio takes the jug and just pours it down his mouth yeah pours it down his gullet yeah manzo continues to look for Shino comes to a bonfire sees the hut out of the hut comes a very a new man a new man a man that's a shiro comes out manzo's in the foreground he sees manzo and just the I mean that's a real oh shit oh yeah like you know of course I mean in any circumstance where you walk out of your girl's room and there's dad is a problem when you're a samurai the night before battle of the dad who made his girl dress as a boy in order to not have sex with the samurai who he didn't trust and you see the samurai there and you know the battles the next day and guys like kamba and kiozo are your are your mentors and you know what this means like that is a big like yep oops and then I love that Shino comes out and she is I can only describe his coquettish yes because she doesn't see dad yet she's just like I love this person she's lost the person she's totally in the first time of course and and just she is in this romantic lovely moment and she looks over at katsu shiro who's like yeah yeah oh terrible and manzo goes nuts calls her terrible names of tramp wench begins to beat her screams at her everybody wakes up kamba arrives and and he's manzo is really going at him yeah and kamba says stop this brutality the whole village is watching and kamba throws manzo down sees shino weeping in the mud manzo calls her a slut and kamba looks between the two and says tell me what happened to manzo he says you mentioned a samurai who was it manzo doesn't say anything kamba looks around shichiroji enters and says hey manzo because he's the closest to manzo come on speak up nothing and then kamba sees katsu shiro who's looking down what I think is so interesting this moment yeah is the music is the droning peasant music from the beginning right I have a lot of thoughts on why he chose this music at this moment okay my feeling is that at the beginning of the film there was a harsh separation between the peasant and the samurai right that we had overcome and now that ancient separation has completely returned that they are the peasants and they are the samurai and the samurai are here to rape our women and take whatever they want and that is the moment we are back in right now at this moment that's what I feel yeah it's so I I liken this to the moment where there's the gunshot before akaba at in Lawrence of rate oh yeah the whole plan is now possibly destroyed because the action of these three people right is that the the the we have these two groups coming together before akaba we have these groups of the peasants the samurai who have come together to fight the bandits and that is now completely separated in this moment yeah it's great to see katsu shiro in the foreground in almost bathed in darkness yeah everyone else is in light yeah because of how he feels right he is the darkness that has come now to deflower shinoe and possibly ruin this uh relationship between the two the farmers and the samurai and they're trying to talk to monzo go and look this son is this happens before big battles yeah you know remember what it's like to be young and monzo's having none of it yeah he's he turns away and says I can't forgive them when my only daughter becomes damaged goods which we in a modern sensibility can have have even stronger opinions about that statement but even in 1954 you know this was a truly terrible things to go and then there's rikichi who says what's wrong with you two people in love it's not like the bandits took her it's that's the finally yeah someone gets through the monzo yeah and it is rikichi because monzo is ashamed at that moment for having done what he did because of rikichi's pain of having had his wife and love taken from him well and this is in a weird way this is the first yes he said that's my wife but this is the first sort of open yes he isn't spoke in that moment and he never talked about his well I don't think he ever talked about his wife in the village it's not just he didn't talk about it with the samurai he doesn't talk about this and now he's saying you could be me like you don't know this is I'm in the real pain right like you the bandits could have taken her and been raping her for two or three years going to take it you know imagine if that had been your law this is obviously young people and right right and I think like I used to have because I think he loved his wife obviously yeah and I think that's the moment that kind of saves us yeah and monzo looks down and this beautiful shot of monzo profile in the foreground and she know you know in the dirt in the background um and we cut to the fire and we stay on the fire for a long time hearing the sound of she know weeping and then the fire just starts dim and at first we don't even understand what's happening this time passing is what what what is this and then we realize that it's begun to rain and to me the rain is the sadness that's coming the tears this is coming it's to me it's foreshadowing because rain a lot of people connect rain to sadness or depression or melancholy and this is what's coming the putting the fire out yeah it's it's great symptoms yes it's beautiful and it's the next morning and this is in the rain and the samurai are kind of walking through and now they go like they wound up tight we need to loosen them up and then comedy does a thing that's again you see a different side of leadership like we saw his soft side we saw his patient side we saw his hard side is scary side and now he turns to katsu shiro and says you know we expected too much of you last night you became a real man and slapped him on the back and makes a joke and everybody laughs I think I think he totally chose to make his this kid feel completely uncomfortable and publicly embarrass him in order to make everybody laugh and loosen him up yeah I think this is a great leadership moment and it wasn't that nice to katsu shiro and it shows this other smart side of him yeah and shichirochi sort of gets everybody up to and kikucho is putting swords in the dirt why do you need all the swords in dirt I can't kill five samurai with just one sword right combat in katsu shiro and kyuzo draw swords and there are 13 left and he says we'll let them all in yeah once they pass the point we close in the front and all sides at the crossing and everything is riding on this battle it's time to roll the dice and gamble and there's a great profile of kambai as they scatter and here come the bandits they do exactly that they let everybody in kambai with his drawn sword kikucho gills here they come and this it's all so brutal yeah so and we should say that this was supposed to be shot in summer oh wow supposed to be nice comfortable summer shoot and yeah they'd be wet but it would be warm and it would be muddy and yeah they're wearing not very much clothes and just sandals but it's gonna be okay cuz it's gonna be summer but they go over budget and they go over schedule this is the middle of winter below freezing every night the the mud would freeze solid they would bring out all their lights just to soften up the mud wow but people are that means the water is cold yeah the people are wet there was frostbite a lot of people lost toenails including kurosawa wow this was and this went on for over a month this shoot holy shit in the worst most painful most difficult conditions because every one of these shots is complicated yeah I mean you might get one or two of these shots today if you want you know 50 people running around and cameras moving and bandits and violence and rain and all this stuff like it takes I mean just setting up a like I'm an adolian on you might take me an hour in this room with nobody else you know setting up you know 100 people and movement and all the stuff takes forever and so they're shooting this and every morning is get up in the freezing cold be wet all day and shoot violent difficult action sequences in the mud you know I mean yeah lords of rabia 120 degrees out in the desert you know jaws the shot sharks not working over and over again hurricanes come to apocalypse now like this is one of those shoots where it's like man yeah it's amazing but I wouldn't want to be on it combat goes on the tag kikuchio tries to attack and falls shechi roji with his spear that he's so good at close shots shots through the hooves kikuchio's big sword breaks and he immediately grabs another one so good thing he had those extra swords yeah combat orders them east and they head off east combat and kiozo go east combat draws an arrow like I love his archery yeah I don't know if he practiced but he looks great we see another bandit go down shot by an arrow combat shoots another bandit in the other direction with an arrow kikuchio with with his sword is falling and fit flailing and fighting another bandit falls off the horse and runs dragged through the mud I mean there is absolute chaos going on in this battle and we do see bandits going down but we also see some of the farmers going down and the bandits once they get knocked down they're just desperately trying to escape and being hunted down and then we have a shot from inside the women's hut that are waiting and they watch and they scream as bandits including the leader of the bandits come into the women's hut kikuchio is running through the mud cuts one guy down attacks another guy on a horse who spins great long lens shot through the horses hooves the horsemanship is amazing oh yeah other thing yeah and we also have to say that my guess is the ASPCA would not say that no animals have been harmed this is at the time where they would hobble horses which means they tie their legs together where they do these nasty falls with the horses some of what you see with the horse and the rider go down brutally and the horse does get up and seems to be okay but my guess is yeah they hurt some horses okay this movie kiosk takes another guy out and there's this moment of we did it it kiosk is moving forward and a gunshot chaos and silence it all goes really silent right after this gunshot and kikuchio kikuchio looks over and is done yeah and kiosk draws his sword and goes to you think he's gonna keep fighting and he throws his sword and falls into the mud and katsushiro is there and sees it and it is gorgeous yeah and katsushiro is winging out absolutely there's a totally loses right he hasn't lost it on any other death this is the one you lose right right and i think we do too yeah yeah yeah of course and kikuchio goes and attacks because we know now that that it's a lead bandit he's in the hut with the women he's got a musket and he goes to attack and there's another shot and come by starts to try to stop him yet again yeah from going forward with his emotion too much and boom he gets shot and you think oh this is it and he climbs back up because he's a feral animal he's gonna fight to the end and he walks and and Steve this is beautiful to me as a person who's you know has a tendency to want to battle i love this nobility of this moment of him standing up walking into that hut and that bandit is doesn't know what to do because he shot him he's supposed to stay dead and he walks right up to him takes his sword out stabs the bandit in the heart against the wall and then dies and then does and the shot no death the shot is from the outside of the yes right we see him on the one side of the hut and then the camera is tracking left to right as he goes inside the hut seeing him through the window through the brakes of the walls through more window and then comes out the other side as he kills him so in addition to being a great and this is again why this is a great film is that is it it is a perfect great character moment it is a perfect climactic ending to the violence of the film yeah it is our character dying in the moment of killing the big huge bad guy and it is gorgeously constructed and filmed and how ironic is it that kikuchio gets to kill the main villain if this is an American version there's no way well you'll Brenner doesn't kill the main bad guy you like well there's just no way that doesn't happen it has in but in this Japanese version kikuchio is the one that does it and not come back and not kill so not kill so right yeah I actually think well it's funny like it's we're gonna obviously talk about influences but one of the movies that keeps popping in my head is infinity war and endgame oh yeah is there big huge teen films in which I feel in many many ways we have satisfying resolutions to a bunch of people a couple of people die yeah not as many as I expected and you do have you know I mean who if we were going to cast the Avengers as combat in kikuchio who do you cast right combat is Captain America and kikuchio's Iron Man yeah you know and who dies defeating Thanos right is kikuchio right you know is the more wild character who needs to have the redemptive moment who needs to show you know and and what are we worried about with kikuchio is he going to really do be able to do what a samurai can needs to do right what are we worried about Iron Man is he going to be able to be self-sacrifice and honorable and all those things and so in terms of character arc seven samurai is absolutely correct and of course so is Avengers endgame yeah spoiler alert shit if you haven't seen it it's two and a billion dollars I got nose envy for those people who are both cinephiles fans and have not seen Avengers endgame that is a very small small thing diagram yeah cut sushi roe runs into the middle of the space covered in mud and says where are the bandits and kambai says all dead and katsu shiro falls to his knees screaming and weeping to me and I don't know if I'm right here steve but to me katsu shiro goes through two rights of passage here right he comes into the film 100% want to be the samurai right have and wanting to be as noble as he's and have the experiences and have the all this he has sex with that with she knows probably his first time as well oh yeah I would imagine so he's a man now being unable to avenge his in essence what he had almost in his head created a pseudo master or pseudo family uncle like we said uncle's death he cannot avenge this death he is now fully a samurai he has survived his battle and he has survived his battle being at time being in this battle being able to avenge a death that will haunt him going forward I will take it even further than that I mean although first of all I will say that having sex the first time does not in my opinion make you a man well sure but that is in the traditional filmically it's in the traditional sense yes yes but I think he came from a pretty sheltered back yes I think he came from back when we're samurai were samurai and they're supposed to behave like this right I think he was filled with a bunch of romantic ideals about samurai and battle and honor and all this stuff and probably about you know who you're going to marry which be a nice samurai lady and all that stuff right that was what he learned and I think he came and he found out who farmers were when he threw the coins down yep he gained sympathy which I don't think he had before I think when he comes out and sees how the farmers work and how they fear them and meets Kikuchio his whole world view is being transformed yeah I think he sees Kyozo and comes up with this ideal but then he has romantic ideals about how battle is supposed to go and the good guy is supposed to win and the heroic guy is supposed to win and then people get killed not in some amazing sword battle right but by musket randomly randomly yeah and so I think and then and yes even the love story is not which we'll find is not romantic and blah blah blah it's it's complicated yes and not you know in fumbling and awkward and strange and and then to have these moments of the the duel death of Kyozo and Kikuchio I think it's him really powerfully right point yeah is that all of that has been shattered and I think it is in some way surviving the battle and having all of your illusions shattered yeah and yet learning new things about what honor really is and what courage really is and what humanity and compassion really is that is what has made him a man right that's what I think it's all right and you go back to the point where he's uh with them Kikuchio and uh Kyozo when they're killing those bandits right he's watching them so he makes a connection with two different sides and so to see both those eyes die yeah within seconds of each other yeah what's that like and we are left and I think when I first saw this is the first moment that I went I'm looking at Kabe Shichiroji and Katsushiro and go oh that's what the only ones who survived right it's the only it's only three samurai survived yeah and Kabe turns to Shichiroji and says once again we've survived and the the look of relief and fear and pain and sadness and exhaustion on them is amazing um we fade out it's the next day and the farmers are back to farming right they are doing their dance they're planting the rice we kichi looks happy yeah I think that's one of the most amazing things in the films closure he has he I think he is gonna have another wife I because yes because if you would ask me in the in you know 15 minutes ago is kichi gonna be okay I would say no way right that's he's dark and angry for the rest of his life but maybe he isn't maybe he's okay um and the three samurai are standing proud and watching all of this very formal and very separate and Kabe sort of looks down at rikichi who turns away and they walk to the graveyard and we have the three samurai in the foreground and the hill of graves in the background with the four mounds of the dead samurai with four swords in them amazing great visual man incredible and the girls are running by with like a pole carrying things towards the field and there's Shino and he steps in front of her and she stops he moves towards her and she moves past him yeah she doesn't speak to him and he turns and he follows out of frame leaving leaving Kabe and shichi roji alone and there's sort of an oh over the shoulder to katsu shiro in the foreground with the samurai in the background and we see their POV of katsu shiro and this is all handled silently and there is a close-up of Shino who's singing and planting but she is not looking at katsu shiro and shichi roji looks at kabe and they wait and they look down and they say nothing and then kabe says in the end we lost this battle too and he says what and he says i mean the victory belongs to those peasants not to us they look at the burial mound that's amazing it's a great ending because also the way what happens with shino and kikuchi or i'm sorry with katsu shiro is mirrors with cut the moment katsu shiro had with the samurai armor and she comes up to him and he moves past her after that pause for exactly the moment reverse where she is now in power and back into her life and doing what she's doing and he's left out wondering what to do next what he did but once again another rite of passage what they told him at the beginning when they have that moment in the first section of the movie where they're all sitting around they're talking about the life of a samurai what the real life of a samurai is he's experienced it all in a microcosm battle enemies that are alive none wives none loves things that ensure all of that and he is now this is the samurai life so i wonder if katsu shiro goes back to being the rich kid or stays the samurai or even stays in that village trying to be with shino but it seems like that romance is over it was what it was and now it's done it's funny because you just kind of quoted magnifs and seven oh yeah and at the end of magnifs seven he joins he goes to the girl yes it's very clear like i'm going to stay with the girl in one of the farmers again and of course in magnives and seven that kid grew up as a farmer he's more like kikuccio in that sense and that's the end and then we have you know uh steve McQueen and your burner head off in this movie it is ambiguous yeah we don't get to see what happens next and when i was young i was certain that he left with the samurai and watching it now i i don't know i really don't know what he does i mean i don't i think shino is kind of said you're not gonna have a life here right um i think she's saying it's done well and like it's katsucho really fit to be a samurai i mean i mean i'm sorry fit to be a peasant right i don't i don't know but it's like something you try in your 20s you're like you really did and then something happens and you go through the experience and you decide whether you want to be that or not you know when i left the military at i could have stayed in for another 12 years i did my eight years could have stayed but i knew when it was done i knew i was done i didn't want to be that and that was in my 20s and i was and want to be that and certainly the romantic notions of what it means to be a samurai for katsucho they're gone they're gone no he knows what the real deal exactly yeah yeah um uh and the mags of seven ends in an uplifting way right they're off to the next battle these two uh it's you're feeling the weight of what's happened here well and i think this is a much more you know i mean your veteran if you talk to veterans of wars even if you talk to veterans of world war two yeah we could say well it was good that we thought that we won the war but the scars of the people who fought in the war are no less painful yeah consider because of the fact that it was maybe it's a little less painful but it's still like it's still rough and so kambai and sichi roji and katsushiro they're going to carry those scars for a long time yeah you know i mean the peasants will too but they're going back to their life is their life is to plant and grow and to live their lives kambai's life is to look for the next battle yeah you know the next melee so we've reached the end of this epic exploration of seven samurai uh it's talk a little bit about reception this was a huge huge uh film and it wasn't just huge in terms of making lots of money although it did it was huge i think it's a transformative movie in the history of film um it was a phenomenon in the u.s i mean everybody but you know this is this is when people were going to see foreign films and in the mid fifties one of the things i find so interesting about this movie is that uh of course i was hugely inspired by john ford and there's massive western influences with the music the way it's filmed the storyline and definitely when i say western influence both western filmmaking but also the genre of the western right but then seven samurai influences the western you know in return i mean obviously magnifism seven but all sorts of films looked at seven samurai in terms of their structure in terms of the way it was filmed in terms of the kind of stories and violence that a western can tell and you see it throughout western filmmaking from that point forward and i think the influence you know obviously we talked about magnifism seven another film we've talked about the dirty dozen yeah you know that is influenced by seven samurai every action ensemble film we just talked about avengers is influenced by seven samurai there's so much of this film peck-and-paw lord of the rings on and on and on that yeah while bunch is hugely influenced by the seven samurai i mean this movie roguon yeah total roguon's another perfect example particularly roguon because it's so tragic yes you know is that it really uh and yet i still feel that seven same as much as i love every movie we've just mentioned seven samurai stands above and beyond above these things i just a remarkable movie okay john i hate to do this to you do you have final thoughts on seven samurai yeah i mean rewatching it again for the movie and i can never over this show i can ever rewatch it enough nothing will ever supplant citizen canis my favorite film ever made but seven samurai is the only film that's ever come close to threatening it because of the concepts of nobility even as they show you the actual brutal truth of battle the brutal truth of heroism the brutal truth of cowardice and all of that that can occur in the human condition and both the positives and the negatives that occur for people who need to be saved what and how complex it is and it's not as simple as please save me yes i'll save you know there's so much more that gets involved all of it gets explored here in such um i don't know emotionally honest and vulnerable detail that sticks with you when you're done and when the movie is over you feel no sense of relief or joy or happiness you feel as if you yourself have survived this battle with the villagers or the farmers and with the samurai and you yourself have to take time to process that and i think that's what's so incredible about this film visually stunning very well acted emotional beats that resonate with you and lessons that you can take with you ironically in your life afterwards um and you never get bored it's three and a half hours three and a half hours and you never get bored it's very hard for me to sum up my feelings about this movie but the thing the word that keeps coming back to me i mean we we talked about it's beautiful cinematography it's great performances it's wonderful editing it's amazing set design and lighting it's yeah structure it's writing all of those technical aspects of filmmaking and we talked about how in terms of action and structure that it's very influential without the world but the thing that keeps coming back to me is its humanity yeah is that it is a deeply human film and that has deep compassion for all of these characters that are very different and in all of these characters have their arcs whether it's rikichi or kikuchio or katsu shiro they all have to go through things they all have to learn things and even kyozo who's held up as sort of this kind of samurai ideal is still a human character you know hehachi and grobe yohei shino shino her like all of these people and if you want if you just watch the frame and you watch each of these characters even if they're background you see how filled with life and reality they are and so again i go to the thing that was of course i was goal which was to do an entertainment which it is that is about something and i think for me that's kind of what i've always wanted to do you know is that i'm their popcorn movies that i totally like and i'll totally go through a you know an action film and be thrilled you know raiders of law stark maybe mean one of my favorite examples of a movie that is just wonderful and thrilling and joyful and awesome but it isn't particularly about something you know and seven samurai says no we can do a movie that is thrilling and exciting and adventurous and funny and it's about something where we have lessons to learn and lessons that i think this like any great film is one that you can watch over and over and over again and every time you watch you get something different out of it so that's what we think about seven samurai we definitely want to hear what you think about it please visit us on our facebook page do a search for the cine files you can subscribe to the show on itunes or youtube and leave your reviews on itunes they're still really important leave your comments on youtube we love to read them you can support the show on patreon.com/the cine files we're releasing more and more shots on there we just released one on rise of skywalker i think we're going to record another one right after we get off the mic here so subscribe to patreon.com/the cine files to hear those you can buy the seven samurai or any other show we've ever reviewed on cine files.net you can reach me on twitter at sr moris on instagram at sr moris one john where can they reach you you can always reach me at the roca says on twitter and on instagram and please if you don't mind i'd love it if you came over and subscribed to my youtube channel which i am just fully dedicated to now uh ww youtube.com/ john roca says not the roca says john roca says and there'll be more stuff coming down the pike for that content small reviews of older films things that nature so there'll be a lot of stuff coming on and steven and i have talked about him coming on and doing occasional episodes on there as well or live streams as well so please go and subscribe there'll be a lot more content coming down the pike and of course cine files also has its very own twitter feed we have at cina underscore files on twitter and on instagram the cine files podcast subscribe to those as well and i think that is it for this week we will be back next week for a commentary track on jimbo to finish out the 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