GamerTab That was an excellent one.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

masonfisk A Cliff Notes type look at the volcanic thespian that was Toshiro Mifune whose collaboration w/Akira Kurasawa rivals other actor/director relationships like Bogart/Huston & DeNiro/Scorsese. We get the usual boilerplate of timeline from his early days as an actor to the bullet points of film roles which defined his career. I wish the filmmaker delved deeper but as said in the doc, he was a very private man so what we have is a good entryway to this marvelous talent.

Aleksandar Sarkic Toshiro Mifune is one of my favorite Japanese actor. He and Akira Kurosawa changed Japanese cinema for all times and also influenced a lot a whole world cinema. When i saw that they are making a documentary about Mifune i was so happy, and finally i had a opportunity to watch it. It is okay documentary but something is missing, it feels somehow empty. I think they put a lot of talking about known movies like Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Rashomon. It is a shame but they not talk about such great Mifune- Kurosawa collaborations like The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low. Mifune was so great in his roles in drama movies, even better than in samurai ones. Also his private life is not mentioned, okay we only got information he was an avid drinker and loved sport cars and driving, but other things not. Maybe the answer is privacy in Japanese culture, and Mifune himself was very closed person in private life. The guests who are talking about Mifune are generally okay, but were is Tatsuya Nakadai, he acted in so many movies together with Mifune like Sanjuro, Yojimbo, Samurai Rebellion, Sword Of Doom, High And Low, it would be interesting to hear his experiences acting alongside Mifune, also for foreign guests it is okay they have called Spielberg and Scorsese, but where is George Lucas, Lucas was so influenced by Mifune, even he wanted to gave a role of Obi wan Kenobi to Mifune, and Hidden Fortress influenced Star Wars a lot, so i think the director missed some better guests, but on other hand it is nice he called Shiro Mifune to talk about his father that is big plus tome. Generally i enjoyed watching it because i was always interested in Japanese cinema but as i said earlier it can be better. If you are fan of Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa and old Japanese cinema watch it for sure, you will not regret it.

Riley Porter I'm sure I'm not the only one who was wondering why it is they couldn't get a hold of Tatsuya Nakadai. I feel that the approach they took with this documentary was a bit limiting. Given that "Samurai" is in the title it should come as no surprise that they, for the most part, really only talk about Mifune's roles as samurai in film. In a way it's both a documentary on Mifune and the chanbara genre as a whole. This is sort of a double edged sword for me. While I think it's valuable to provide background on the genre that Mifune is most famous for and which he in turn made popular outside of Japan, in the end it feels like you're sort of getting an incomplete picture of both him and the genre. The history lesson on the chanbara genre basically concludes with the introduction of Mifune and the history lesson on Mifune is more or less confined to his work in the chanbara genre. All things considered, for as much as I like this documentary and am a fan of what it features, I sort of wish it were two separate documentaries. One which covers chanbara, or perhaps just jidaigeki as a whole, and one which covers Mifune a bit more comprehensively. That might be a bit more satisfying as a whole. I'm sure any fan of Mifune could understand what I'm getting at. For anyone who wants to see a documentary on Mifune, there's going to be frustration that roles like he had in 'The Bad Sleep Well', 'High and Low' and 'I Live in Fear' are basically ignored. Likewise, any fan of the chanbara genre is undoubtedly going to feel a but cheated that Tatsuya Nakadai is never referred to at all, and that the history feels incomplete. I appreciate what this documentary is trying to do, and if you're a fan of Mifune, I would certainly recommend it. It could have been better though.

MartinHafer Steven Okazaki directed this excellent documentary about the famous Japanese actor, Toshirô Mifune and it's narrated by Keanu Reeves. As a lover of Japanese films, seeing this picture was an absolute must and I must point out that many of my favorite Japanese movies starred this incredibly talented man. However, in many ways it's a film less for folks like me, as I've seen almost all the films they discussed in the documentary. Instead, it would be a perfect introduction to his films and would provide you with many great recommendations of pictures you simply have to watch! And, as I already love and respect Mifune, the film didn't do much to change this!I should point out that if you want a more biographical look at the man, this may not completely satisfy you. You do learn about his life but I never exactly felt like I truly knew the man as I watched. Instead, it's much more of a filmography and as such highlighted his very best films and discussed them and their impact… as well as how Mifune was able to make the most in his performances. In fact, when you do learn personal information, it's mostly negative, such as his very heavy drinking and marital infidelity. I would have loved to hear more from his son, Shiro, in order to learn more about who Toshirô really was off camera. Shiro is featured….but I wanted to hear much more. In addition to interviews with the son, you hear from many actors who worked with him as well as from American directors like Spielberg and Scorsese! Wow…you wonder how Okazaki was able to get all this great contributors!Overall, this is a very well crafted film with lots of beautiful film clips, excellent graphics and editing and is really a must-see for anyone interested in international cinema. It's also a must-see for anyone who loves the films of Akira Kurosawa, as many of their best films were collaborations and are discussed in detail in this lovely documentary.