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Seven Samurai (Japanese: 七人の侍, Hepburn: Shichinin no Samurai) is a 1954 Japanese epic jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Starring Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima and Yukiko Shimazaki, it tells the story of a village of farmers who hire seven samurai to help defend their village from bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops. Influential in world cinema, Seven Samurai is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Kurosawa and Hashimoto researched the Edo period for stories to adapt and came across an account of samurai defending farmers from bandits. Together with Oguni, the screenwriters spent over six weeks writing the script and creating detailed plans for each of the film's characters. Produced by Toho, the film spent three months in pre-production casting and location scouting. Filming began on May 27, 1953 and took place on set at Toho Studios, and on location in Shizuoka and Kanagawa Prefectures. Mid-way through production, the film ran out of money. Toho eventually funded Samurai to a total of ¥210 million,[a] making it the most expensive Japanese film made at the time. For the film's final battle, Kurosawa innovated the use of a multi-camera setup and telephoto lenses to adjust audience perception. Filming wrapped in 1954 after 148 working days.

Seven Samurai was released in Japan on April 26, 1954, with a runtime of 207 minutes. The film was recut before entering the Venice Film Festival. At Venice, Kurosawa won the Silver Lion for direction, and the film was distributed in the United States by Columbia Pictures in November 1956, where it was recut again. The film grossed ¥290 million in ticket sales in Japan[b] making it the highest-grossing film of that year, though due to its large production cost, it was not highly profitable. In the United States, the film grossed $145,800 in 1956 and 1957.[c] The film received a mixed critical response in Japan, but a generally positive response in the US. Reviewers praised the story and acting but criticized the film's length and attitude towards the farmers. American reviews compared the film to Western movies. Samurai was nominated for two Academy Awards and three BAFTAs, but won none.

In the decades since its release, scholars and reviewers have praised the film as a masterpiece. Seven Samurai has been influential among Western filmmakers, with its story and approach to action remade and reiterated numerous times, most notably in the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven. Seven Samurai also influenced other media, including anime and video games. Scholarly analysis of the film has looked at it through a humanistic and formalistic lens. Discussions focus on the morality and heroism of the samurai, showing their relationship to class and the environment. In addition to allegorical readings, scholars have also looked at the film's cinematography, use of music, and Seven Samurai's place within the jidaigeki genre.

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[-] lelkins@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 10 hours ago

day 2 of work, woke up with a splitting headache. while at work i was watching some random minecraft scary videos for some reason and found one where a cute anime girl ai assistant thing infected a pirated copy of minecrap and killed people with seizures because a guy was fired from mojang because reasons.

that kill method reminded me of pivot stickfigure videos i used to watch as a kid that had the punchline of "yea have strobe lights", hence the seizure time thing. imagined her just asking "are you dead yet? this should've killed you, i killed 5 people with this!"

the design was too cute for me to ignore so LELKINS ART DROP, YOU ALL KNOW I AM STILL AROUND.

in a windows 98 popup window, resides a random minecraft unfiction character that i forgot the name of, holding a phone attempting to kill you with epilepsy. her phone blasts the 2008 video "crazy stickfigure randomness". she wears a robe and has little wings floating on her head and a halo. thankfully this is a png and not a gif, we are all safe!

i actually forgot the character's name but look i drew something cute i know you all like my stuff here ya go

[-] lelkins@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

i know i don't post much. i don't have much to post and i don't have much time for anything. i try really hard to calm myself down after work so you'll see me do stuff very rarely.

i am just tired of everything sadly, like i am burned out from work and many other factors that i can't put my finger on.

i am in the hexbear matrix server and it's really chill so yea. you'll see me a ton there

this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2026
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