26 August 2019

Mifune: The Last Samurai (US/Japan, 2015)

A feature-length documentary about the life and films of legendary actor Toshiro Mifune, weaving together film clips, archival stills, and interviews with such luminaries as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Narrated by Keanu Reeves.

If you're at all interested in actor Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa's collaborations, Mifune should prove to be a fascinating look at their work together with the most focus on Mifune's filmography. Not just is Mifune an in-depth look at his life, but an incredible source of information and trivia from his entire film career; e.g . the man who played the original Godzilla (1954) was a petty samurai who got killed by Mifune once, and there's a lot of interviews with old actors who used to act alongside Mifune who all shares their stories of what happened on set. Even actor Koji Yakusho weighs in on how huge Mifune was in the industry.

Sure, it's a little jarring to hear a tired Keanu Reeves narrate the whole thing, but you quickly get used to it and after a while you're absorbed by stories of how Mifune loved to eat ramen between takes. Being a film with limited time, Mifune can't go into details with absolutely everything but at least it touches upon what happened between him and Kurosawa at the end of their work together. It's painfully bittersweet to hear an actress read Kurosawa's last word to his favorite actor.

All in all, this is a captivating time capsule showing the massive impact one single actor had on the film industry, and how his acting inspired people around the globe.


Genre: Documentary

No comments:

Post a Comment