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7 Films you absolutely should be watching before jumping into "Ghost of Tsushima"
- Thread starter Twingsy
- Start date
Also don't miss this.
cinema.36chambers.com
Shogun Assasin with live commentary from RZA.
36 Chambers: Contemporary Fashion & Vegan Accessories
Contemporary Fashion & Vegan Accessories. Bomber, Coach's & Souvenir Jackets. Wallets, Backpacks, Bags. Select music products from 36 Chamber artists. Influenced by Chinese Culture, Hip Hop, Kung Fu.
cinema.36chambers.com
You sold me, lol. Just ordered a copy.
This is really interesting. I just hope there's a physical copy of this or digital download option later on.Also don't miss this.
Shogun Assasin with live commentary from RZA.36 Chambers: Contemporary Fashion & Vegan Accessories
Contemporary Fashion & Vegan Accessories. Bomber, Coach's & Souvenir Jackets. Wallets, Backpacks, Bags. Select music products from 36 Chamber artists. Influenced by Chinese Culture, Hip Hop, Kung Fu.
Rifftrax does live shows too, but they'll put those up for grabs digitally and some on disc too. I guess this thing is more "interactive" though.
Re: Lady Snowblood.
Again, I haven't seen it yet, but I asked for it as an early birthday present last year from my sister during the annual Criterion sale (I think it was like less than 20 bucks at the time).
When she asked me why I wanted these old movies, I texted her a link to this video.
Again... I haven't seen them yet, so I don't know how well this represents the movies, but I just thought it was badass (and also I wanted to send it to her because the long paved walkway down a hill reminded me of some castle or maybe just large old-ass house we visited when we lived in Okinawa. It did for her too).
Lady Snowblood is absolutely amazing. You won't be disappointed. The sequel is different in tone than the first, but is still good and crucially thematic in its own way
Wrote these impressions when I saw the first film earlier this year
Hmmm... I was planning on watching them after watching the Lone Wolf and Cub movies I haven't gotten to yet, but maybe I'll just watch Lady Snowblood first. I mean, since it's only two movies (and I probably could've watched them both in the time I spent rewatching Seven Samurai today lol). Thanks for your thoughts on it.
Another piece of trivia I texted my sister: Lady Snowblood has a 100% "Tomatometer" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sword of Doom is amazing but I feel, compared to other samurai films, its tendency to spend so much time on subplots that ultimately go nowhere make it suffer a bit. That said, I think that ending works perfectly despite the way it abruptly cuts like five different plots short. It's the kind of ending that the protagonist deserves
Have you seen Demons (Shura)? That's another tar-black samurai film that follows a descent into madness. I'd say it's even more f'd up and disturbing than Sword of Doom
I have never even heard of that one, but now I'm excited to watch it!
Yeah, I'm interested in watching it, but delivery keeps getting delayed. Hopefully it actually shows up today.
Lady Snowblood was great! ...and yeah like More_Badass mentioned, as someone who has seen Kill Bill a fair number of times, there were definitely lines of Lady Snowblood that made me go "Oh! Look at that! That's... "familiar."" (not to mention the look of Oren Ishii)
Yeah, I'm interested in watching it, but delivery keeps getting delayed. Hopefully it actually shows up today.
Lady Snowblood was great! ...and yeah like More_Badass mentioned, as someone who has seen Kill Bill a fair number of times, there were definitely lines of Lady Snowblood that made me go "Oh! Look at that! That's... "familiar."" (not to mention the look of Oren Ishii)
I am actually 400% salt none of the Kurosawa movies are in a convient place to be watched without having to buy them all individually in the US
It would probably be cheaper to actually hire a samurai then to buy all these movies or pay for them alon a bunch of different services.
It would probably be cheaper to actually hire a samurai then to buy all these movies or pay for them alon a bunch of different services.
Yeah, I was about to mention I think the Criterion streaming service has like a 1 or 2 week trial.
Oh yeah, I definitely see it in that image you posted, but for some reason it just didn't "jump out" at me like those lines did when I was watching it.
HBO Max, from what I understand, is also going to be the first place you can stream Studio Ghibli films, I think?
Not a bad launching lineup.
I was hoping their would be a few cool samurai movies on Netflix(UK),but there is fuck all......gonna have to make do with my The Last Samurai DVD to get me in the mood,not exactly what I had in mind though,lol.
I say add The Last Samurai (2004) to that list, and also Greyeagle (1977) (not a Japanese film, but IMO it applies).
OP seems to be a pretty good list of post-Kurosawa samurai movies, almost none of which I've seen. I guess I'll have to rent/buy them individually because almost none seem to be streaming anywhere. A lot of the old black & white classics are coming to HBO Max though.
If you notice, most of these movies are actually set during the Edo period (1600's through late 1800's) where it would make sense for combat with Katanas to be more common. Most of these movies don't feature a lot of large-scale open warfare, but rather intimate, personal conflicts between individuals or small groups of people, because the Edo period was one of relative peace. A lot of these movies are basically crime movies.
In the open warfare of earlier periods like the Kamakura and Sengoku periods, halberds, spears, and bows were probably way more commonly used than swords. Among the movies being listed here the obvious exceptions are Sengoku-era pieces like Ran, Kagemusha, and Seven Samurai.
The developers are really inspired by all these movies, and that's inspiring all the weapons and armor you'll be seeing in the game, but all that stuff is from later periods which is gonna make this game extremely anachronistic. The western equivalent would be making a game/movies about pilgrims in the 1600's but dressing them up like cowboys or even modern people, with weapons from the 1800's and later.
If you notice, most of these movies are actually set during the Edo period (1600's through late 1800's) where it would make sense for combat with Katanas to be more common. Most of these movies don't feature a lot of large-scale open warfare, but rather intimate, personal conflicts between individuals or small groups of people, because the Edo period was one of relative peace. A lot of these movies are basically crime movies.
In the open warfare of earlier periods like the Kamakura and Sengoku periods, halberds, spears, and bows were probably way more commonly used than swords. Among the movies being listed here the obvious exceptions are Sengoku-era pieces like Ran, Kagemusha, and Seven Samurai.
Here's another off-beat recommend. I don't even think it qualifies as a cult classic, but I enjoyed it when I saw it earlier: The Silent Stranger (1968), the film that originated the East-meets-West concept, taking the Fistful-Yojimbo connections to their logical conclusion
This is a legit (if average) chambara plot, that happens to include a trickster cowboy playing both sides and meddling among feuding samurai clans. The clan storyline is played completely straight, and the movie was actually shot on location in Japan. (It had a sizable budget that shows onscreen and studio support, at least until the constant typhoons). The sword fights aren't half-bad either. There are no subtitles, making Tony Anthony's "The Stranger" a quirky fish out of water unable to understand the language. But the language of money and killing is universal, as he bounces between clans to even their odds with his skills. One side has a Gatling gun and a foreign gunslinger of their own, but the Stranger has Bugs Bunny-tier wile and eventually a gargantuan flintlock shotgun that sends samurai flying through walls. The rain-drenched finale is a climactic highlight, with ample amounts of clashing katanas and Stranger's cat-&-mouse shenanigans. There's just something undeniably fun about a laconic poncho-clad gunslinger wrecking havoc in the middle of a jidaigeki.
This is a legit (if average) chambara plot, that happens to include a trickster cowboy playing both sides and meddling among feuding samurai clans. The clan storyline is played completely straight, and the movie was actually shot on location in Japan. (It had a sizable budget that shows onscreen and studio support, at least until the constant typhoons). The sword fights aren't half-bad either. There are no subtitles, making Tony Anthony's "The Stranger" a quirky fish out of water unable to understand the language. But the language of money and killing is universal, as he bounces between clans to even their odds with his skills. One side has a Gatling gun and a foreign gunslinger of their own, but the Stranger has Bugs Bunny-tier wile and eventually a gargantuan flintlock shotgun that sends samurai flying through walls. The rain-drenched finale is a climactic highlight, with ample amounts of clashing katanas and Stranger's cat-&-mouse shenanigans. There's just something undeniably fun about a laconic poncho-clad gunslinger wrecking havoc in the middle of a jidaigeki.
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Holy crap I didn't see this list and scrolling through the app blew me away. Hidden Fortress is there too along with Throne of Blood and fucking a Yojimbo!
BFI player in the UK has a two week free trial and most classic Kurosawa Samurai films and will likely add more soon (Hara-Kiri is in the Japan Season key art but hasn't been added yet).
I actually started watching the Lady Snowblood movies after reading the manga. I still need to watch the second one, but it's pretty badass.
The manga already had a very cinematic look and feel to it. You can definitely see where it inspired Kill Bill (the whole story really feels like a proto-Kill Bill).
Less than 2 weeks until the game releases and I suppose this weekend and next are only left to consume as much Samurai Cinema as I can until the 17th. lol
So I pretty much binged the entire Lone Wolf & Cub series in the week which were all great, pulpy fun but I was also pleasantly surprised how good the action was. Pretty damn gory too. LOL There's a wonderful shot though in the first film after a duel earlier on, Itto standing victorious silhouetted with the setting sun in the background and his foe in the foreground standing decapitated for a moment before collapsing.
Today I'm starting up The Hidden Fortress and damn the presence of Toshiro Mifune in his first scene was awesome. The fact the other characters describe him as a lumberjack wasn't far off the mark. lol
So I pretty much binged the entire Lone Wolf & Cub series in the week which were all great, pulpy fun but I was also pleasantly surprised how good the action was. Pretty damn gory too. LOL There's a wonderful shot though in the first film after a duel earlier on, Itto standing victorious silhouetted with the setting sun in the background and his foe in the foreground standing decapitated for a moment before collapsing.
Today I'm starting up The Hidden Fortress and damn the presence of Toshiro Mifune in his first scene was awesome. The fact the other characters describe him as a lumberjack wasn't far off the mark. lol
Here's Mifune being one of the coolest people to ever live on the set of Sanjuro:
And another one:
Behind the scenes shots from period flicks are the best.
GameSpot has its own list
www.gamespot.com
11 Classic Samurai Movies To Check Out Before You Play Ghost Of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima is heavily influenced by Japanese samurai cinema, so we've picked some classics to watch.
www.gamespot.com
The lack of Seven Samarai and Hidden Fortress on your list are disturbing. Those are two amazing films. Seven Samarai basically laid the groundwork for many Samarai films to follow, Hidden Fortress actually was one of the inspirations to Star Wars and is considered one of the best Samarai movies as well.