Weekly Recap 14 | The Seventh Seal, Harakiri & Attack on Titan

Ok, so I know I promised I was going to watch the nominees for Best Picture this week… but sadly I’m afraid I’m going to have to break that promise. And not because I didn’t want to watch them – far from it, as I’m super eager to watch Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal, The Father and Another Round – but they’re just frustratingly not available because BoJo still hasn’t ended this damn lockdown! So yeah, loads of stuff that I should have been able to see in the cinema and for some reason aren’t available on my streaming platforms. Oh well, instead I’ll just review some good ol samurai flicks today, and I’ll maybe review all the Oscar movies I have seen later this week. 

Beginning with my first film by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal was fascinating but disappointing at the same time. I really wanted to like this film as it explores themes that I adore. And the first scene was so promising, with sublime cinematography and an intriguing premise living precisely up to my expectations. But that sadly ends up being sidelined for most of the film, because aside from the occasional reprieves where Death is actually in the scene (which are brilliantly directed) most of this film is just a whole lot of irritating nothingness. The ending is great, but as it’s the ending it comes too late. If the film never deviated from Sydow’s perspective, then I’d probably call this a masterpiece like everyone else. But as good as the poetic contemplations on life might be, they don’t occur with anywhere near enough frequency to carry this dreadfully boring film. 

The Seventh Seal: https://boxd.it/1KO1v7 ⭐⭐⭐

Like I said at the beginning, I watched 4 samurai films this week, though they’re hardly my first ones. Let’s start with the one I was most disappointed by, and that’s Throne of Blood. This was actually the one I watched last, so I hope this was just me experiencing samurai fatigue, because I was honestly rather bored watching this. Which is a shame since Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play (Polanski’s adaptation is in my top 100 favourite films). Well, Hamlet is a close contender, but they share the same tale of the tragic hero that I find so fascinating, so it’s to be expected I adore both so equally. Anyway, aside from the beautifully eerie scenes with the witch and the morbidly hilarious final scene with the endless arrows, I found this film as a whole to be really flat: both narratively and cinematographically. I know it sounds weird that I should call an adaptation of one of my favourite plays narratively uninteresting, but I found the directing to be appalling here, with scenes vastly outstaying their welcome while not putting nearly enough attention to the poignant moments that make this story so impactful. I really disliked Mifune’s interpretation of Macbeth, as he just shouts and laughs through scenes that are supposed to showcase his melancholy and regret. He might have gone mad, but he never revelled in it to the extent that Mifune does, so a lot of what was once introspection now becomes over-the-top silliness. The film as a whole is ultra slow in the wrong places while rushing the actual engaging bits, the complete lack of visual dynamism – alongside the absence of Shakespeare’s sombre soliloquies – utterly tarnishing what should have been a masterpiece to merely be mediocre at best.

Throne of Blood: https://boxd.it/1KG943 ⭐⭐

Don’t worry, that’s the only one I didn’t like. Sanjuro is another Kurosawa film and I have to say this was so much fun to watch. Yojimbo is among my favourite films, and although I watched Leone’s remake first, Yojimbo certainly presents the story with more sophistication. Mifune, unlike in Throne of Blood, is brilliant here, with a rough, lazy demeanour masking his cunning plans that make for such a great viewing experience. To be honest, I didn’t realise Sanjuro was a sequel to Yojimbo until I started watching it and became pleasantly surprised to see the snarky samurai return as he emerged from the darkness. The plot is a little confusing at first, and I still don’t entirely understand the motivations of the villains, but watching Mifune slaughter frightened goons and outsmart the bosses is a joy to watch. I don’t think this is quite as good as the first film, but the comedy is great, the plot is thrilling, the characters are well written and the violence is beautiful, all the way to the very end with that glorious fountain of blood that gives Tarantino a run for his money.

Sanjuro: https://boxd.it/1KwPgv ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Onwards to the highest rated Samurai film, Haraki is certainly worthy of the title of masterpiece. The story unfolds in such a natural way, with incredible performances and breathtaking cinematography shining throughout. Deceptively simple but magnificently complex, with nuanced critiques of Japanese tradition while not forgetting to add a dash of excitement. The violence is also shockingly not gratuitous and sensational, instead depicting it as a sad state of affairs, with revenge only imbuing remorse and ritual suicide becoming utterly ridiculous. With that said, this is a bit of a slow burn, but once the film’s picked up speed it doesn’t stop for anything, climaxing with a gorgeous duel amidst wind that has never felt so sublime, and a tragic final showdown as he’s gunned down in the most dishonorable way possible. 

Harakiri: https://boxd.it/1Ki2Kt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s a shame the remake isn’t as good though. Harakiri: Death of a Samurai was made in 2011, with a more conventional approach to filmmaking. But as the main story is then retold, it becomes clear that as a whole, every single scene is extended in all the wrong ways. As a remake, it was inevitably going to feel like a hollow copy, yet this version takes too long to hit the same beats, so their impact as a whole is lessened. What’s worse is that they didn’t remake the windy battle, which was pure magic in its kinetic energy and striking visuals. Instead, we get an over bloated final showdown that doesn’t make any sense in terms of character motivation and directorial motivation because it completely misses the point that the original was trying to make. As such, this film does the same things slightly worse, while not fully justifying doing the new things at all, so it does drag even more than the original while not ending in nearly as satisfying a manner. With that said, the start of the film is great, as the bamboo seppuku scene was uncomfortable enough in the original, but here it’s way more gruesome, intensifying the cruelty of the practice to an unbelievable degree. And I also have to say that the cinematography is just as beautiful as the original, using colour to mesmerising results. Even so, while I do recommend watching it if you liked the original, this remake definitely pales in comparison to that masterpiece. 

Death of a Samurai: https://boxd.it/1Kp5IJ ⭐⭐⭐

Ok, this final entry might be cheating a little, since the final episode came out today. Well, I say final episode, but it turns out that this ‘final’ season isn’t actually the last one after all. But I’ll throw it into this Recap anyway. Attack on Titan is the first anime I’m reviewing on this channel, which is nice because this series was an absolute masterpiece. I watched the first season several times back when that was the only season for lots of years, but then they started churning them out every year, ramping in excitement every single time. Every single season is brilliant, expanding the lore of the world in directions I would never have seen coming. The aesthetic is gorgeous, with hard lines that dissolve under the sheer kinetic energy of these singing frames. The violence is thrilling and gruesome, making for wildly engaging episodes whose pacing sprints at a record speed. And the characters are the absolute highlight, developing to become so deep and complex, but always in a natural way with dynamic relationships and logical motivations that make for such awesome drama. Honestly, I’ve never had any issues with anything in this series, because while season 4 does start kind of poorly, it doesn’t take long before the climaxes and revelations take hold and never loosen their grip even after that suspensful end has subsided. 

Attack on Titan: https://boxd.it/1KVRAx ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐