Superb

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2010)

I saw this movie when it first came out but remembered very little of it. How fortunate I was to be able to see a new print of this movie on a cinema screen recently!
I have seen many of Kurosawa's movies and have to say that this is certainly among the best of them. For pure spectacle nothing else he did comes close, with remarkably choreographed battle scenes, but that is just the icing on the cake. The actors, headed by the truly splendid Nakadai, all acquit themselves well including, most especially, Mieko Harada who gives a volcanic performance as the archetypal femme fatale sowing ruin wherever she goes. The story is epic and timeless, and the cinematography and editing are wonderful. The whole enterprise is spiced with Kurosawa's laser-like focus on human folly.
If you have the opportunity to see this movie, particularly in a cinema, do not miss it. Then watch Yojimbo and compare the two -- they are both great films from the same maker yet refreshingly distinct treatments of the smallness, cruelty, stupidity and majesty of humans.