Steven Okazaki’s Mifune: The Last Samurai is a perfectly serviceable documentary on the great Japanese actor Toshirô Mifune if you aren’t looking for any information you couldn’t find on the man’s Wikipedia page. Those wanting a more penetrative look into…
5 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Influenced By Akira Kurosawa
It’d be almost redundant to describe Akira Kurosawa’s works as influential. His career, spanning six decades, has resulted in numerous films that have tried to emulate his works (but never with an equal result). This week, The Magnificent Seven was released, reminding us yet again…
Directors of Cinema: Episode 2 – Akira Kurosawa
Welcome to another episode of Directors of Cinema, the podcast that highlights the careers of cinema’s most prominent directors. Each week, host Matthew Goudreau and a guest discuss selected works of a director chosen by the guest. On this episode, host Matt…
The Film Canon: High and Low (1963)
[Warning: Spoilers Ahead] Film critics must always be on guard against the temptations of hyperbole. How easy it is to, in a fit of post-credits elation, declare that such-and-such a film is the “greatest ever” or at the very least…
The Film Canon: Star Wars (1977)
It feels a little silly to include Star Wars in a compendium of films you must see, if only because it’s a given that everyone’s already seen it. When someone tells me they haven’t seen Star Wars, I briefly consider…
The Film Canon: Rashomon (1950)
This film was like s stage production. One act, followed by act two, all wrapped up in the climatic third and final act. It reminded of a modern film Closer, which was in fact a movie deriving by a play.…