Reviews and notes

The fusion of all the elements which make up the completely individual style of Kurosawa occurs in SEVEN SAMURAI (Shichinin no Samurai) - originally shown abroad, before the American remake (1961), as The Magnificent Seven - Kurosawa's best film and one which, were it necessary to make the choice, I should call the finest Japanese film ever made.

In a way, it is the summation of everything which is most Japanese about Japanese film. It is concerned with the present, though the story is laid in the past. It criticizes contemporary values but insists that they are, after all, human values. it faithfully and honestly creates the context of Japanese life, man and his surroundings. At the same time it is concerned with timeless values and universal attitudes. It uses a controlled realism as vehicle and presents a surface of superlative physical beauty which serves to accentuate the beauty beneath...

The film is an impassioned call for cooperation among men and, at the same time, suggests why this has always been and will always be impossible.
- Donald Ritchie, Japanese Cinema, Secker & Warburg, 1972.


This rare screening of SEVEN SAMURAI in a 35mm print from the Japan Foundation, on the giant Embassy screen, is an opportunity not to be missed.

Back to screening list