MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI Cinema's Legacy

Steven Okazaki’s thoughtful, elegant portrait of Japanese cinema’s greatest actor is less a straightforward documentary than a creative examination of the formative elements — both personal and cultural — surrounding Toshiro Mifune that contributed to his rise in stardom. The popularity of Chanbara films (samurai sword-fighting films that functioned as Japanese cinema’s Westerns), Mifune’s harrowing experiences in World War II, his circuitous entry into moviemaking and his brilliant collaboration with Akira Kurosawa all led to the creation of Mifune the icon. With rare archival photos of Mifune on set and in his personal life, seminal clips from some of his greatest films — RASHOMON (1950), SEVEN SAMURAI (1954), THRONE OF BLOOD (1957) and YOJIMBO (1961) among them — and an impressive array of interviewees including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, actors Kyôko Kagawa and Yoshio Tsuchiya and narrator Keanu Reeves, MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI is a cinephile’s dream. — Beth Hanna

Steven Okazaki won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for his film DAYS OF WAITING: THE LIFE & ART OF ESTELLE ISHIGO (1990). He has been nominated for an additional three Oscars®, for the films UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1986), THE MUSHROOM CLUB (2005) and THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN (2008). He is also the recipient of a Peabody Award.

Strand Releasing

Details

Country: Japan

Year: 2016

Director: Steven Okazaki

Screenwriters: Steven Okazaki, Stuart Galbraith IV

Producers: Toshiaki Nakazawa, Toichiro Shiraishi, Kensuke Zushi, Yukie Kito, Steven Okazaki, Taro Goto

Executive Producers: Nobuyuki Tohya, Isao Kawauchi, Takeshi Hoshino

Directors of Photography: Tohru Hina, Yasuyuki Ishikawa

Editor: Steven Okazaki

Music: Jeffrey Wood

Cast/Featuring: Keanu Reeves, Martin Scorsese, Steven Speilberg, Kyôko Kagawa, Toshio Tshuchiya

Running Time (minutes): 80 min

Language: English and Japanese

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