The 8th Samurai

I was lucky enough to stumble into this film as part of the Denver Film Festival in November 2009. It was amazingly good.

The film, set in 1953, tells the story of the actor hired to play the eighth samurai in Kurasawa's next great film. Unfortunately for the actor, the Director (never referred to by name, but we all know who he is) has a dream and decides his film needs to be "The Seven Samurai" instead of "The Eighth Samurai." This is apparently the end of the actor's career, and the story takes us through the period of turmoil around the delivery, denial, and finally acceptance of the bad news.

The filmmakers did an amazing job imitating Kurasawa's style, including lighting, shot selection, acting, pace, and editing. It was clear that someone has studied the master very well. Unfortunately, I think the painstaking accuracy of the homage was lost on probably 90% of the audience. That may be one of the flaws of the film. Unless you're a real film buff and a fan of Kurasawa, you probably won't really appreciate "The 8th Samurai" for all it's worth. But if you know your samurai movies, you owe it to yourself to find a way to watch this film.

Recently, I discovered a short film entitled "The 8th Samurai." Written and directed by Justin Ambrosino. As a filmmaker and a huge Japanese film fan, I couldn't wait to see it after watching the trailer.

The film centers around an actor named Nanshu who's been cast as one of lead roles in one of Japan's great directors new films. After several failed attempts at succeeding in life, he realizes this is his final chance to ascend to greatness. Things seem to be on the rise for him, until the director of the film has a mysterious dream that changes the fate of the film and steals Nashu's precious role from him. He is left trying to figure out what to do next while being troubled by haunting visions of his dead mother.

It seemed that the filmmakers really grasped the poetic structure of the samurai film. As an obvious homage to Akira Kurosawa's epic "Seven Samurai," the film is an alternate reality take on a question that's never been asked: "Why were there only 7 samurai?" The actor portraying Nanshu, (Eijiro Ozaki) really personifies the screen samurai. Despite it being a film, he portrays his character as an echo of the ancient samurai. He is honorable, dedicated and obsessed with duty. I believe Ozaki could stand his own on a big screen Chanbara film alongside any of the great actors of classic Japanese cinema.

The other standout performance is Nanshu's "ghost-like" mother, (Akiko Shima.) Her character is very reminiscent of the old ghost woman in Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" (1957.) She portrays the character as a sort of haunting spirit who constantly tells Nanshu that he's a failure. The entire performance felt like an homage to Throne of Blood.

It is generally said that short films should limit themselves to under 10 minutes. Despite it's length of 30 minutes, the film flows wonderfully. It's tight storytelling keeps the viewer invested in Nanshu's plight. The score was outstanding and really helped underscore the gravitas of the film with hints toward the original "Seven Samurai" score.

Overall I highly enjoyed the film and find it to be an outstanding piece that will sit proudly next to my copy of "Seven Samurai" on my DVD shelf.