do you mean Seven Samurais of Akira Kurosawa, in black and white ?
Yes Ive seen that movie, thats a classic :) nice choice.

and, hmm, do u have seen "Ran" ... its also a great Kurosawa's movie...a beutiful photography.

[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/ ]

oh, i haven't seen Ran, i'm on the lookout for Kurosawa flicks at the moment, particularly Kagemusha and Rashomon ... i'm also very very compelled by Dreams.

sadly, Seven Samurai is still the only Kurosawa film i've seen, i tend to concentrate my attentions more towards chinese films, Kid From Tibet and Barefoot Kid spring to mind ... not nearly on the same level artistically but still gorgeous in their own way.

A great film in the Seven Samurai vein is Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev - a 3.5 hour epic set in medieval Russia and concerning the life and times of a monk/icon-painter. It is a slow-moving, highly intellectual film (typical of Tarkovsky's work), but there are some glorious action sequences - in particular a Tartar raid on a village: blood, fire, destruction, cows aflame - it's all good.

PS. Grimmybug - if you're not in Wellington but are happy to pay a small fee (basically $6 on top of your tape/DVD hire), you can hire a whole lot of Kurosawa from Aro Vid's courier service.

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soldierboy - i haven't seen much in the way of russian film but i'm intruiged, will check it out
jet - thanks! it might come to that, though i'm sure i can track them down in dorkland, my only fear is that i wouldn't return them :)

saxzo - i am a big fan of martial arts, barefoot kid is probably one of my favourite films, stars actors mostly unknown in western circles, but it's got flawless choreography and the story, while based around fairly standard chinatown themes is a brilliant bittersweet tragedy, heavy on the melodrama according to the write-up on imdb. i don't want to give away too much but if you're at all into martial arts you should check it out

kid from tibet stars (and was produced and choreographed by) yuen biao who is a pretty big star in those circles, he's a colleague of jackie chan and samo hung and they've done a lot of films together. he's probably the most serious of the 3, samo hung being the silliest and jackie chan being somewhere inbetween. he's also an exceptional martial artist

i'm pretty much a well-rounded film fanatic rather than subscribing to any specific genre, but for some reason i'm intensely drawn to asian film, martial arts, manga, drama, it's all good. there's a lot more philosophy imprinted into even the most ridiculous of action films than your average hollyschlock piece of crap, so perhaps that's it. sick of being patronised :)

also, plain and simple, even if half the tricks they do are on wires, it looks damn impressive. any jerkoff can shoot a gun, after all.

[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106552/ ]

just a fan of the arts in general, big movie fan, big music fan, big art fan - love it all

as far as inspiration is concerned there's probably a little influence from everything :)

which is why variety is important!

:)

//Cos they got the power to make their own decisions (to eat)
It doesnt mean your decision is the right one, right?
It doesnt mean I can’t criticize your decision, right?
So, if they eat shit, thats a problem. And if they export that “way of life”.. then.. its also my problem... and I dont want your problem be my problem.... so, pls, let me to shout out:
*Yankee Go Home and Take ur McShit with u!*

Excellent I'm looking forward to it ... the guy on it was interviewed on Letterman - looked very interesting ...