Currently my Kurosawa favorite

Rating: 10/10 (17 October 2012)

I have seem, at this point of time:
1 - Rashomon 2 - Seven Samurai 3 - Yiojimbo 4 - Kagemusha 5 - Ran
The earlier Kurosawa films were very interesting, however, they lacked a certain "budget thingie". With material limitations I think Kurosawa was unable to fully realize his vision while here we have all cylinders firing as this was the most expensive film in Japanese history up to that point (converted to current dollars, it cost 30 million, a huge amount for the standards of the day!).
This film has it all: massive battles, treachery, love, complex and interesting characters and can be understood fundamentally as a film about old age and its effects on the reduction of decision making capabilities of individual decision makers (that's sounded terrible, didn't it? :) ).
So concluding this is the best film out of those five, that I have seem from Kurosawa. Highly recommended. I gave it only 9/10 to differentiate from the truly "best" films ever.