So today I finished watching The Seven Samurai.
I had to watch it in two sittings because one thing nobody ever mentions when writing/talking about it, is that it's nearly FOUR HOURS LONG. I have no problem with long films, I just didn't know how long it was, I expected this one to be over in an hour and a half. (Partially down to its age - it was released in 1954, so I was expecting it to be a similar length to Western films from the same era - i.e. short).
What people do mention is how it's probably Akira Kurosawa's best film, and an amazing Japanese film. Well, it's the only Kurosawa I've seen, and I haven't seen that many live-action Japanese films*, so I can't really comment. I thought it was OK, and I did find it interesting (especially since most of the action's in the last hour, so the most part is a slow burn to get where it's going, if you see what I mean).
Also OH GOD EVERYONE TALKED SO FAST that I couldn't understand a lot of what was said** (thank god for subtitles, although the translator thought they could get away with outright not subtitling some dialogue, and that was a bit irritating. Or maybe I'm just spoilt in that anime subtitles nearly everything). I maybe caught five entire words in the film. (Maybe that would have worked better had I not been crocheting at the same time but I'm not good at just sitting and watching stuff).
Anyway, then I read a creepypasta, and I've had my scary story for Halloween now thank you very much. (It was BEN drowned if anyone's interested. Like Majora's Mask isn't freaking creepy enough ANYWAY).
~
*I've seen a fair bit of anime, but personally I don't think you can make parallels between animation and live action, but that's just my opinion.
**Let's be fair, my grasp of the Japanese language is shoddy BUT. I like being able to tell what people say, even if I can't understand them, and it helps me to pick out words I might not have realised I knew.
I had to watch it in two sittings because one thing nobody ever mentions when writing/talking about it, is that it's nearly FOUR HOURS LONG. I have no problem with long films, I just didn't know how long it was, I expected this one to be over in an hour and a half. (Partially down to its age - it was released in 1954, so I was expecting it to be a similar length to Western films from the same era - i.e. short).
What people do mention is how it's probably Akira Kurosawa's best film, and an amazing Japanese film. Well, it's the only Kurosawa I've seen, and I haven't seen that many live-action Japanese films*, so I can't really comment. I thought it was OK, and I did find it interesting (especially since most of the action's in the last hour, so the most part is a slow burn to get where it's going, if you see what I mean).
Also OH GOD EVERYONE TALKED SO FAST that I couldn't understand a lot of what was said** (thank god for subtitles, although the translator thought they could get away with outright not subtitling some dialogue, and that was a bit irritating. Or maybe I'm just spoilt in that anime subtitles nearly everything). I maybe caught five entire words in the film. (Maybe that would have worked better had I not been crocheting at the same time but I'm not good at just sitting and watching stuff).
Anyway, then I read a creepypasta, and I've had my scary story for Halloween now thank you very much. (It was BEN drowned if anyone's interested. Like Majora's Mask isn't freaking creepy enough ANYWAY).
~
*I've seen a fair bit of anime, but personally I don't think you can make parallels between animation and live action, but that's just my opinion.
**Let's be fair, my grasp of the Japanese language is shoddy BUT. I like being able to tell what people say, even if I can't understand them, and it helps me to pick out words I might not have realised I knew.
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