Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Akira Kurosawa | Houselights #273

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The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Akira Kurosawa | Houselights #273 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
0:20
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Houselights, our director discussion show here on
0:23
Speaker 2: the Nerd Party Network. This week, we're continuing in the
0:27
Speaker 2: house of Kurrasala with his nineteen fifty eight film The
0:30
Speaker 2: Hidden Fortress, noted for sharing the story through the eyes
0:34
Speaker 2: of two greedy peasants R two, D two and C three.
0:37
Speaker 2: I mean to hey and match a story. It has everything.
0:44
Speaker 2: We have generals, princesses, dirt maps, border crossing, gold branches,
0:49
Speaker 2: and of course a hidden fortress. I'm your host this evening,
0:53
Speaker 2: simple peasant Darren Moser, and I'm joined by the village
0:57
Speaker 2: reader of Signs, Tristan Riddell, and General in Hiding John Mills.
1:03
Speaker 2: Will you take the path up the rocky mountain face
1:07
Speaker 2: or just use the secret tunnels? Let's find out in
1:11
Speaker 2: the Hidden Fortress. I see John is very happy with
1:14
Speaker 2: his al.
1:15
Speaker 3: I'm glad I finally get the respect I deserve in
1:18
Speaker 3: these intros.
1:19
Speaker 4: Thank you.
1:19
Speaker 5: I'm just the old man that walks around and talks
1:21
Speaker 5: to the illiterate.
1:24
Speaker 2: Was it he the old man from last week? I'm
1:27
Speaker 2: pretty sure it's the same actor.
1:28
Speaker 4: I think so probably, Yeah, just like.
1:31
Speaker 2: Him, And I mean it's karas Hawa, so I would
1:33
Speaker 2: see why he would reuse the same actor.
1:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we never I don't think we ever really
1:37
Speaker 3: get like a close up of him at any point.
1:39
Speaker 4: Do we like not get pretty close to him? Yeah?
1:42
Speaker 2: It in my mind it looked just like the old
1:45
Speaker 2: man from the in the mill from Seventh Samurai.
1:49
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe, but like I think there was like a
1:51
Speaker 3: mid shot. I think that was as close as we
1:54
Speaker 3: got to him. So that's all right, yeah either way.
1:58
Speaker 2: So, yeah, this movie, you know, some of us have
2:01
Speaker 2: not seen before. I mean I have not seen any Carasoala,
2:06
Speaker 2: So we'll start right there. But I think many a
2:10
Speaker 2: film major or a film buff has thought of the
2:15
Speaker 2: Hidden Fortress because it has been heavily revealed as not
2:21
Speaker 2: the full inspiration but an inspiration to George Lucas and
2:25
Speaker 2: his making of Star Wars in nineteen seventy seven. And
2:29
Speaker 2: boy god, that first scene as we were walking along
2:34
Speaker 2: the mountains with our two peasant friends, I almost heard
2:38
Speaker 2: astromc beeps during that scene. It was very inspired.
2:44
Speaker 5: I swear I heard teeny yeah float around in there.
2:48
Speaker 2: Fine, go that way, you'll be malfunctioning within a week,
2:51
Speaker 2: Like I expected. Those lines to come out of their mouths.
2:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I you know I did see this the first
2:58
Speaker 3: time I saw it back in the nineties.
3:00
Speaker 4: I can tell you.
3:01
Speaker 3: Know, yeah, I'm watching it on videotape because it was like, oh,
3:05
Speaker 3: George Lucas cited this, and I remember, yeah, it opened up.
3:09
Speaker 4: We were like, oh, hey, look at that.
3:10
Speaker 3: I also remember the first time I watched this, like
3:12
Speaker 3: we got halfway through, we were like, what the hell, man,
3:15
Speaker 3: why is this good? Look Like none of us liked it.
3:18
Speaker 3: It was one of those awful moments where it was like, oh,
3:21
Speaker 3: am I allowed to be a Star Wars fan still
3:23
Speaker 3: because I got to tell you I didn't really like this.
3:25
Speaker 4: I revisited it years later.
3:28
Speaker 3: My opinion changed a bit, but I think that the
3:33
Speaker 3: DNA is definitely there with the original Star Wars. But
3:37
Speaker 3: I would argue, and this was the conclusion I hit
3:39
Speaker 3: at the last rewatch I had years ago. I think
3:43
Speaker 3: there's like, there's even more phantomenace about this than there
3:49
Speaker 3: is a New Hope. Yes, this opens up with the
3:53
Speaker 3: two you know peasants, you know, droids going and then
3:58
Speaker 3: the battles going on around them, and they get caught
4:00
Speaker 3: up and everything, and they find the general but like
4:01
Speaker 3: there is a lot of this that also transfers over
4:05
Speaker 3: into the Phantom Menace. I would argue even the type
4:08
Speaker 3: of humor and characterizations that it has, I think there's
4:12
Speaker 3: more of a direct line between the two of them,
4:16
Speaker 3: and I think that I think that it's super interesting
4:19
Speaker 3: because this is I mean, I'll throw it out there.
4:22
Speaker 3: I think this is harder to get into than Seven
4:27
Speaker 3: Samurai or Rashamon. I think this is a more difficult
4:31
Speaker 3: one to sort of like vibe on. Like I think
4:34
Speaker 3: it takes a little bit of time to get into it, which.
4:37
Speaker 4: Was really really funny.
4:39
Speaker 5: I just want to comment on what John said because
4:41
Speaker 5: that's the exact opposite of what Kirasawa intended, because Rashamon
4:47
Speaker 5: and in Seven Samurai weren't big hits financially, and he
4:53
Speaker 5: was really chagrined with it, and so he's like, you
4:56
Speaker 5: know what, I'm going to make a really truly accessible
5:00
Speaker 5: movie that's just thrill rides and it's funny, and so
5:04
Speaker 5: it's I find that fascinating.
5:07
Speaker 3: Oh No, I think once it gets going, it gets going,
5:11
Speaker 3: and I think it is like when they're on the path,
5:13
Speaker 3: when they when you have the stairs scene on the Fortress.
5:17
Speaker 3: I just think that it And the thing is, you
5:19
Speaker 3: could even you could even make the argument that you know,
5:21
Speaker 3: you look at some of Lucas's where you look at
5:23
Speaker 3: the original Star Wars, like you show that to a
5:26
Speaker 3: kid nowadays, it's sort of like once it gets going,
5:28
Speaker 3: the kid really gets into it. But like that first
5:30
Speaker 3: reel is sort of like, you know, can be a
5:31
Speaker 3: little bit slow for them. And I don't think it's
5:34
Speaker 3: so much pace that I react to. It's that I
5:37
Speaker 3: think that it It's one of those things where I'll
5:40
Speaker 3: make I'll make the argument that I'd say for the
5:42
Speaker 3: first little bit of the movie, Yeah, it's cute, there's
5:45
Speaker 3: there's humor, there's action, but you're like, Okay, what are
5:48
Speaker 3: we doing here? Like what I'm waiting for something to
5:50
Speaker 3: come together is what I'm saying.
5:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think definitely you asked that question of
5:55
Speaker 5: what are we doing here?
5:55
Speaker 4: What's the movie? Right?
5:58
Speaker 2: And in my view that's kind of around that framing
6:02
Speaker 2: device of the peasants, like it works, but there's also
6:06
Speaker 2: the caveat of you they're not the main characters as
6:10
Speaker 2: far as everything is happening to them. They have very
6:14
Speaker 2: little agent like they have a little bit agency in
6:16
Speaker 2: a little bit of you know, direction on what they're
6:19
Speaker 2: choosing and the greed and things like that and sticking together.
6:22
Speaker 2: But it again, your lead characters in air quotes that
6:28
Speaker 2: the general and the princess and others show up way
6:32
Speaker 2: into the movie. Yep, you know, not in the beginning
6:35
Speaker 2: at all. So I totally get what you're saying, John,
6:38
Speaker 2: where that first act you're kind of just in the
6:42
Speaker 2: world and like, Okay, is this just bumbling peasant movie?
6:48
Speaker 2: And it's not. But you wouldn't know that if you'd
6:50
Speaker 2: only watch the first act, because that's just how it
6:53
Speaker 2: comes across.
6:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.
6:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, did you guys feel the same way
6:58
Speaker 3: and this is your first viewing or am I being
7:01
Speaker 3: too harsh on it?
7:02
Speaker 4: I don't think so. For me?
7:04
Speaker 2: It for me it was hard because again I'm viewing
7:09
Speaker 2: it through that Lucas lens where I'm looking for the connections.
7:14
Speaker 2: So even more so, Yeah, the first act of the
7:19
Speaker 2: you know, the peasant slash Troyd's very obvious, very blatant.
7:23
Speaker 2: But then I'm like, oh, there's a princess, like they
7:25
Speaker 2: you know, they foreshadow it, like, oh, there's a sign
7:27
Speaker 2: saying we're looking for the Princess, like General Princess, Is
7:31
Speaker 2: that gonna be like Obi Wan and and Leah And
7:33
Speaker 2: it's like, eh, not really, but it's that close. It's
7:40
Speaker 2: kind of close. Again, I'd say obviously this movie, as
7:45
Speaker 2: far as it's connection with Star Wars, it's the framing device,
7:48
Speaker 2: it's the broad strokes. It is not like I'm going
7:51
Speaker 2: to remake Hidden Fortress and it's gonna be in space
7:54
Speaker 2: like that is not Star Wars. That's not how it
7:57
Speaker 2: comes across.
7:58
Speaker 3: I got a question though, did you guys notice in
8:01
Speaker 3: that opening scene right where we're hanging talking. Yeah, in
8:05
Speaker 3: that opening scene though, when the the uh the warrior
8:09
Speaker 3: runs into frame and he's being chased down and he
8:12
Speaker 3: gets killed and the horses turn around, did you catch
8:14
Speaker 3: that horse almost stepped on his head?
8:17
Speaker 4: Did you see that?
8:18
Speaker 3: Did you notice it was laying on the ground And
8:22
Speaker 3: I swear that horse hoof couldn't have come any closer
8:24
Speaker 3: to the guy's head.
8:25
Speaker 4: And he turns and they hold that. They hold that
8:29
Speaker 4: through the cut, you.
8:30
Speaker 3: Know to later in that scene fees with his arm up,
8:34
Speaker 3: but that's originally well, but the thing is he's laying
8:37
Speaker 3: there and the horse hoof, I swear if it didn't
8:40
Speaker 3: hit him, it was the closest it could have possibly come.
8:43
Speaker 3: And he turns up at that moment, but then they
8:46
Speaker 3: hold it through the rest of the scene for continuity,
8:48
Speaker 3: I guess, but it's it's really I mean, you want
8:52
Speaker 3: to talk about hazard pay that guy deserved, you know,
8:54
Speaker 3: extra couple of bucks.
8:55
Speaker 4: I hope.
8:56
Speaker 2: Well, what what do you think, Tristan as far as
8:59
Speaker 2: what did you know about Hidden Fortress? Was it something
9:02
Speaker 2: on your bucket list? Or I did it?
9:06
Speaker 5: Absolutely nothing? Zip zero nothing I knew. I didn't know
9:10
Speaker 5: who was in it. I didn't know what the story was,
9:13
Speaker 5: zero nothing. Didn't didn't even see a poster.
9:17
Speaker 2: Although the poster again, you know, if they all feature,
9:21
Speaker 2: at least the ones I'm all seeing feature, you know,
9:24
Speaker 2: Towshiro like he is the headliner guy, because even the
9:29
Speaker 2: seventh Samurai, I wouldn't call him the lead Samurai, but
9:32
Speaker 2: he's in some of the posters. He is the main draw.
9:36
Speaker 5: I feel like there was like maybe fifteen twenty years ago,
9:39
Speaker 5: there was a re release of all these movies and
9:42
Speaker 5: they had this unified like they all look kind of
9:46
Speaker 5: look like paintings and a lot I think they all
9:50
Speaker 5: had Mafoon many characters every them.
9:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I you know it's I mean in terms
9:57
Speaker 3: of the advertise, in terms of like redoing everything, I mean,
10:00
Speaker 3: and he's by this point even casual film fans know
10:04
Speaker 3: the name because of all of the reference that's been
10:06
Speaker 3: made to him. I still this is another one where
10:08
Speaker 3: I watch it and I'm fascinated by the idea that
10:11
Speaker 3: Tashir Muffune could have been in the original Star Wars.
10:14
Speaker 4: I'm like, that would have.
10:15
Speaker 3: Been so so interesting. He was Lucas originally wanted to
10:20
Speaker 3: cast him, and when it was never, it was never
10:24
Speaker 3: at this talk stage. It was sort of like at
10:26
Speaker 3: the conceptual stage he wanted and Obi Wan's very much
10:29
Speaker 3: modeled after he's written. He was originally written with Maffune
10:33
Speaker 3: in mind. And I'm like, that would have been such
10:35
Speaker 3: a fascinating movie to watch. But you know, my question is, like,
10:41
Speaker 3: since we do focus on these peasants and it is,
10:44
Speaker 3: you know, humorous as so far as the film goes,
10:47
Speaker 3: did the humor play for you guys, Like did it
10:51
Speaker 3: translate for you or was it more of like a oh,
10:55
Speaker 3: this was funny for Japanese audiences at the time, But man,
10:58
Speaker 3: why would anybody.
10:59
Speaker 4: Laugh at us.
11:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, I kind of leaned that way a little bit,
11:04
Speaker 5: where it's just like, oh yeah, this was funny for
11:06
Speaker 5: the fifties. Be like, you know, like it's lighthearted and
11:11
Speaker 5: there's there's certain things that made me chuckle, but I
11:13
Speaker 5: never like laughed out loud, like there was no knee
11:15
Speaker 5: slappers in here, but you could there was a sense
11:18
Speaker 5: of levity to it that you could tell it didn't
11:21
Speaker 5: take itself too seriously. I think, Uh, the only time
11:24
Speaker 5: I was really grinning was at the very end when
11:28
Speaker 5: they were when te Hey and Mataschi was they were
11:32
Speaker 5: sitting in the dirt and they're like, I thought it
11:34
Speaker 5: was going to be so happy when I found that
11:37
Speaker 5: when I found that rod of gold, and then there's like,
11:40
Speaker 5: you know, let's stay friends. Yeah that just made That's
11:45
Speaker 5: just I was just grinning. And then when they were
11:47
Speaker 5: when they got back in prison, they're like, let's stay
11:50
Speaker 5: friends in heaven.
11:52
Speaker 4: Yeah.
11:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, they they are definitely the humor.
11:56
Speaker 2: I think their humor works where you know, they're just
12:00
Speaker 2: I love the fact that again I see three PO
12:04
Speaker 2: and R two every every shot because one is shorter,
12:06
Speaker 2: one is taller, like their mannerism, like it's very imprinted.
12:12
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, like you said in the Little you
12:15
Speaker 2: Know Jabs, and they're just suffering through life. They're suffering
12:19
Speaker 2: through this movie together, right, and having a terrible time.
12:24
Speaker 2: I think for me, the humor or maybe it was humor,
12:27
Speaker 2: I don't know what. The princess. Princess was the weirdest
12:30
Speaker 2: character to me, Like I did not get the whole Oh,
12:35
Speaker 2: we raised her as a boy so that she's strong,
12:39
Speaker 2: but she's also kind of mean and talks like I
12:43
Speaker 2: didn't get her character at all. Like every other character
12:46
Speaker 2: I had to beat on, I did not on hers.
12:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's fair.
12:50
Speaker 3: I think that it has to be some sort of
12:52
Speaker 3: a cultural thing, like you know that there's the old
12:55
Speaker 3: thing was like translator equals trader, like the whole idea
12:59
Speaker 3: that like we're watching these subtitles, there is definitely context
13:03
Speaker 3: that we're missing, and especially not growing up in Japanese culture,
13:07
Speaker 3: especially of the time, there's got to be stuff that
13:09
Speaker 3: we're not getting in the word choice and stuff like that.
13:13
Speaker 5: And on top of that, I didn't in seven Samurai.
13:18
Speaker 5: I listened in Japanese and read the English subtitles, but
13:22
Speaker 5: I just wanted to see, and so I put on
13:25
Speaker 5: the English audio and I left the English subtitles on.
13:29
Speaker 5: They did not match in the least.
13:32
Speaker 2: Oh so the dub and the subtitles didn't match.
13:36
Speaker 4: They were completely different. Wow.
13:39
Speaker 5: And I didn't test it with with Hidden Fortress, but
13:43
Speaker 5: I did notice that there was a lot of modern
13:46
Speaker 5: interpretation in the subtitles of Hidden Fortress.
13:49
Speaker 4: Did you guys notice that there?
13:52
Speaker 3: You know, there was a lot of stuff where I
13:54
Speaker 3: didn't notice it as quote unquote modern interpretation, but I noticed.
13:58
Speaker 3: What I noticed is that the that it's like the
14:01
Speaker 3: phrasing never feels quite like it's it's hitting the emotional beat.
14:06
Speaker 3: I'm like, that doesn't feel like the word you would
14:08
Speaker 3: use there if you were feeling that way sort of thing.
14:10
Speaker 3: There had to be some sort of you know, slang
14:13
Speaker 3: or substitution work that you would have used.
14:16
Speaker 5: And it also feels anachronistic, you know, with certain beats.
14:20
Speaker 4: And it was just I was like, who translated this?
14:22
Speaker 4: Like is this a new translation?
14:24
Speaker 5: You know, like they're like, we're dealing with Japanese here,
14:26
Speaker 5: We're not dealing with you know, Aramaic.
14:29
Speaker 3: Well possibly, you know insert joke about AI redoing the
14:34
Speaker 3: translations for the next edition or something like that. But like,
14:38
Speaker 3: you know, just to speak to that point, Tristan, like,
14:40
Speaker 3: I do think there's also an effort to shorten things
14:43
Speaker 3: for the sake of reading and keeping up, because, like
14:48
Speaker 3: you know, kids nowadays they love the subtitles even if
14:51
Speaker 3: they know the language that's being spoken.
14:53
Speaker 4: Drives me insane.
14:55
Speaker 3: But I've been in a situation where I've been forced
14:57
Speaker 3: to watch it like that and they're speaking the words
15:00
Speaker 3: and the subtitles don't match, and it's like it's English
15:04
Speaker 3: closed captioning on people speaking English and the words are different,
15:08
Speaker 3: and I'm.
15:09
Speaker 4: Like, this doesn't even make sense. Why would these words
15:12
Speaker 4: be different?
15:12
Speaker 3: But it's to truncate it so you can read it, So,
15:15
Speaker 3: you know, I think that definitely.
15:16
Speaker 2: Wise to display so quickly that you wouldn't be able
15:19
Speaker 2: to read it. Well, let's talk about Toshiro again, our
15:23
Speaker 2: common thread in these movies so far. Yeah, the man
15:29
Speaker 2: has screen presence. I mean just walking into the scene
15:33
Speaker 2: coming out of the forest or the mountains and you're
15:38
Speaker 2: just like, oh, here we go. Like that's really the
15:40
Speaker 2: beginning of the second act, I'd say, is when he
15:43
Speaker 2: shows up the general in hiding and now you're like, Okay,
15:47
Speaker 2: what's going on. I almost forgot the movie was called
15:50
Speaker 2: Hidden Fortress. Honestly though, until they got there and they're like, oh,
15:53
Speaker 2: look it's a hidden Fortress, I'm like, that's right, the
15:56
Speaker 2: whole name of the movie. I totally forgot that was
15:58
Speaker 2: going to be a thing. But what did you guys
16:01
Speaker 2: think of his portrayal as compared to the other two
16:05
Speaker 2: we've seen.
16:06
Speaker 5: Well, I was excited because it was so different from
16:09
Speaker 5: his two that we've seen, because I felt like, like
16:14
Speaker 5: I genuinely thought that in seven Samurai, I was like,
16:18
Speaker 5: is he the same guy as in Russiaman? Did the
16:22
Speaker 5: guy from Russaman escape? He was also the itchiest actor
16:30
Speaker 5: in Japan I've ever seen in those first two movies, Yes,
16:33
Speaker 5: that is true, scratching himself. And in this one it
16:36
Speaker 5: was nice because he was a completely different character and
16:39
Speaker 5: different mannerisms and tone and everything like that, but still
16:42
Speaker 5: kept his presence and that spear fight with him was badass.
16:47
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I think that too long, but badass. You know.
16:52
Speaker 3: I think that this is the point where he's he's
16:56
Speaker 3: definitely got a screen presence. In the first two that
16:59
Speaker 3: we've watched, he's definitely a draw. You can tell he's
17:02
Speaker 3: a real talent. He has charisma that comes across on screen.
17:06
Speaker 3: But in this one, I think this is the one
17:09
Speaker 3: that I would point to where he really starts to
17:11
Speaker 3: inhabit this sort of like almost gravitational effect on the movie.
17:16
Speaker 3: You notice him when he's not there. When he's there,
17:21
Speaker 3: everything sort of revolves around him, and then when he's
17:24
Speaker 3: not in the scene, it does start to get it
17:28
Speaker 3: like it gets it starts to like, you know, there's
17:31
Speaker 3: almost like a disambiguity that starts happening about it, where
17:34
Speaker 3: it's like stuff starts to get a little looser and
17:37
Speaker 3: drift a little bit, and you're waiting for him to
17:38
Speaker 3: come back.
17:39
Speaker 2: And yeah, well, I mean we've we've talked a bit.
17:45
Speaker 2: It's been a while since we've talked about protagonist confusion
17:49
Speaker 2: in movies, and I'm not saying that it goes that
17:52
Speaker 2: far in this one, but I mean, is the general
17:57
Speaker 2: the lead character.
17:59
Speaker 4: I don't think it's the.
18:00
Speaker 2: Princess, but it's hard to get off the peasants because
18:03
Speaker 2: they're in the whole dang thing from their point of view,
18:07
Speaker 2: Like I don't it's almost a coin toss really. In
18:11
Speaker 2: my mind on who the protagonist is, and maybe it
18:15
Speaker 2: doesn't need to be that, you know, defined, but I'd
18:20
Speaker 2: say just for his agency, the general is the guy
18:24
Speaker 2: with the plan who's once he's in the story, is
18:28
Speaker 2: driving it forward, you know, makes the decisions. And even
18:32
Speaker 2: though the framing device is still there with the peasants
18:36
Speaker 2: it I have a hard time pinning them with the
18:40
Speaker 2: protagonist label.
18:41
Speaker 5: I think the issue is is that what if Star
18:44
Speaker 5: Wars didn't have Luke Skywalker?
18:46
Speaker 4: Yes, you know who would be the protagonist? Then?
18:49
Speaker 5: Is it three Po? Is it R two D two?
18:52
Speaker 5: Is it Han Solo? Is it Princess Leah? Is it
18:54
Speaker 5: Obi Wan? It's none of them, it's all of them.
18:57
Speaker 5: But you have Luke Skywalker and so you're like, oh,
19:00
Speaker 5: he's a protagonist, it's about him and hidden fortunate characters
19:04
Speaker 5: that have character like that.
19:06
Speaker 4: Yeah.
19:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and I think that gets to that that
19:11
Speaker 3: more core aspect. I agree with you, Tristan, and I
19:14
Speaker 3: think that what makes Luke the central character is he
19:19
Speaker 3: starts at a place and he goes and he ends
19:22
Speaker 3: at a place and it's a different place than he
19:23
Speaker 3: started at. So there's an actual arc going on. These
19:27
Speaker 3: characters are not so much interested in any sort of
19:31
Speaker 3: development as accomplishment, and so the peasants are in the
19:36
Speaker 3: same place they were when they started. The general is
19:39
Speaker 3: just all about getting the princess to where she is,
19:41
Speaker 3: and the princess is all about being a princess, and
19:43
Speaker 3: it's like there's no there's no sense of they have
19:48
Speaker 3: changed substantially by the time they get to the end.
19:51
Speaker 3: And I think that speaks to your point, Darren, where
19:53
Speaker 3: it's like, whose story is this? And I would say
19:57
Speaker 3: that we've all just sort of answered it where it's like,
19:58
Speaker 3: it's not really any buddy's story. It's a story that
20:01
Speaker 3: these characters are in, but it's not their story per se,
20:07
Speaker 3: like they're they're not the soul driver of something for
20:11
Speaker 3: me to watch.
20:13
Speaker 4: Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing?
20:14
Speaker 4: I think that's all.
20:15
Speaker 3: It all depends greatly on what another general said was
20:18
Speaker 3: your own point of view, and I think that you
20:21
Speaker 3: know that's that's possibly one of the things that you know. Basically,
20:26
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought it up, Darren, because I think
20:28
Speaker 3: you just crystallized it for me. As so why I
20:30
Speaker 3: find this one harder to access than seven Samurai A
20:34
Speaker 3: Raschiman there's I'm always searching in this movie for who
20:39
Speaker 3: is my north Star? And I think that's also why
20:42
Speaker 3: I gravitate toward Mafune. It is because when he's on screen,
20:46
Speaker 3: I care about what that guy's doing. I'm interested in
20:49
Speaker 3: what he's doing, and I want to follow him through
20:51
Speaker 3: the rest of his story. And that's why I miss
20:53
Speaker 3: him when he's not on screen after they introduce him well.
20:56
Speaker 2: And that's a good point also compared to Seven Samurai,
20:58
Speaker 2: which is also a very ensemble piece. You know you could,
21:02
Speaker 2: but I don't have the same feeling of I have
21:05
Speaker 2: no idea whose story this is. It's like, no, it's
21:08
Speaker 2: a different kind of story, but it's yeah. In a
21:13
Speaker 2: way though, I feel the lack of Luke Skywalkerness, which
21:18
Speaker 2: I know is that's what we're gonna call it now,
21:22
Speaker 2: it almost makes it feel more like history to me,
21:26
Speaker 2: like this is just a day in history, and someone
21:29
Speaker 2: wrote it down and we told this story like because
21:32
Speaker 2: sometimes there are days like that where there's no hero.
21:36
Speaker 2: It's just the day the princess tried to get back
21:39
Speaker 2: to her kingdom and the peasants were there like this.
21:43
Speaker 2: This movie also seems to take place over like three days.
21:46
Speaker 2: It seems very quick. I know it's a little longer
21:49
Speaker 2: than that, but like pacing wise, it feels like a
21:53
Speaker 2: weekend at you know, you.
21:56
Speaker 3: Know, well, I think I think it gets I think
21:59
Speaker 3: it gets muddy, specifically because and this is the only
22:04
Speaker 3: way I can really think to phrase it, is there's
22:06
Speaker 3: not enough lighting variants, like I don't have an assortment
22:10
Speaker 3: of like here's a day scene, here's a night scene,
22:12
Speaker 3: here's a day scene, here's a night scenes that I
22:14
Speaker 3: get a sense of the progression of time.
22:17
Speaker 4: So to your point, is it three days, right? Is
22:19
Speaker 4: it three weeks? Is it a month? Like?
22:21
Speaker 3: How long is it? It's however long you want it
22:23
Speaker 3: to be. And the thing is that can be a
22:25
Speaker 3: good thing, I would argue, you know, okay, because we're
22:28
Speaker 3: always talking about the Star Wars influence. I think that's
22:30
Speaker 3: one of the great things about Star Wars is like,
22:32
Speaker 3: how long did this adventure take? Well, however long your
22:34
Speaker 3: brain wanted it to. But I don't think that this
22:38
Speaker 3: works as well, specifically because I think that it works
22:42
Speaker 3: in something like Star Wars because it's everything is told
22:44
Speaker 3: in such a compressed fashion. It's so fast, faster, and
22:48
Speaker 3: more intense, whereas this while you know, Tristan, I know
22:52
Speaker 3: you called out the pacing being an issue for you
22:55
Speaker 3: in seven Samurai, I would say, ever since the first
22:59
Speaker 3: time I watched at the Pace, a hidden fortress is
23:01
Speaker 3: an issue for me because there are moments where it's
23:04
Speaker 3: like and we're still walking and we could have cut.
23:08
Speaker 4: And the like.
23:10
Speaker 3: Just take the scene where the peasants are going across
23:13
Speaker 3: the river, like testing the depth with the sticks, and
23:16
Speaker 3: then they see the guys on the bank, and they
23:18
Speaker 3: see the guys on the bank and they slowly turn
23:20
Speaker 3: and the guy on the bank is slowly reacting to them,
23:24
Speaker 3: and they slowly start ambling away, and then a second
23:27
Speaker 3: guy shows up, and then I'm like, this really should
23:31
Speaker 3: have been a lot shorter. This could have been told
23:35
Speaker 3: so much more quickly, And there are transition scenes that
23:38
Speaker 3: could have gone more quickly.
23:39
Speaker 2: Cross been an email, okay, something something like that.
23:43
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think that that contributes to it. Is
23:46
Speaker 3: like I don't have a clear definition of day and night,
23:48
Speaker 3: like how many days and nights or a sense of
23:50
Speaker 3: many of them, and the scenes themselves take a long time,
23:53
Speaker 3: so it's like I you could get untethered in a
23:56
Speaker 3: sense for me.
23:58
Speaker 2: The offending scene was the the climb up the rocky
24:01
Speaker 2: slope took forever, like I'd where are we going to
24:06
Speaker 2: get to the top? It took so long that there
24:10
Speaker 2: wasn't a joke anymore, Like I get that this is
24:12
Speaker 2: oh like they're struggling and they get to the top
24:14
Speaker 2: and then they're like, oh, we could have.
24:15
Speaker 4: Gone that way.
24:16
Speaker 2: It's like that was like a felt like a twenty
24:18
Speaker 2: minute climb.
24:19
Speaker 4: I know was it was a shaggy dog story. It
24:21
Speaker 4: was a shaggy dog story as a rock climb.
24:24
Speaker 2: What what about the pacing for you, Tristan anything jumped
24:27
Speaker 2: out or just yeah, at it with a razor and
24:32
Speaker 2: chop it down.
24:33
Speaker 5: No, I think this this was not seven Samurai level
24:38
Speaker 5: of good lord, you know like I was when I
24:42
Speaker 5: was watching this, I wasn't thinking like I didn't want
24:44
Speaker 5: to pull my hair out.
24:45
Speaker 4: I didn't.
24:46
Speaker 5: I wasn't screaming internally of why how this could easily
24:49
Speaker 5: be an hour shorter? But I definitely think that this
24:53
Speaker 5: could be a half an hour shorter, Like this could
24:56
Speaker 5: be well under two hours. It's two twenty achieved the same,
25:00
Speaker 5: it's two twenty. I think this could be one fifty easy.
25:05
Speaker 4: I really do.
25:08
Speaker 5: And I think that would make it much better, faster,
25:11
Speaker 5: more intense truly, because of just like all those things,
25:14
Speaker 5: like the things that you talked about, like when they
25:16
Speaker 5: were going up the rock face or when they're wandering around,
25:20
Speaker 5: or like that spear duel, which even though it was amazing,
25:24
Speaker 5: it was way too long. It went on forever. Those
25:28
Speaker 5: guys would be exhausted, and it's just yeah, there was
25:32
Speaker 5: just so many points like that where you just and
25:36
Speaker 5: also I'm still not one hundred percent sure why the
25:40
Speaker 5: character of the farmer's daughter was in the movie at all.
25:45
Speaker 2: You mean women purchased by the group who chose to
25:48
Speaker 2: accompany them, because I think that's what she's listed on Wikipedia. Like, yeah,
25:53
Speaker 2: I didn't see the point of that character at all.
25:56
Speaker 2: It didn't make any sense except for maybe the shot
25:59
Speaker 2: compositions her when there's three people tied up.
26:02
Speaker 4: I don't know.
26:02
Speaker 5: I guess I guess it did, Okay, now that I
26:06
Speaker 5: say it out loud, because when you said shot composition,
26:10
Speaker 5: it did throw them throw others off the trail because
26:13
Speaker 5: they didn't have their horses and there was an extra
26:15
Speaker 5: person there. Because they made a point to say, like hey,
26:19
Speaker 5: if you find three men and a woman with on horses,
26:22
Speaker 5: let us know. And they actually had two women and
26:25
Speaker 5: three men and no horses. So that's the only thing
26:28
Speaker 5: I can think of. And there was like at the
26:31
Speaker 5: very end when they escape, when the general and the
26:34
Speaker 5: princess escape on horseback, like you see the generals, you
26:37
Speaker 5: see the farmer's daughter and you're like, oh no, no, no, no, no,
26:40
Speaker 5: don't don't don't, don't, don't, don't, don't leave her, and
26:44
Speaker 5: the general like picks her up in this super badass
26:46
Speaker 5: move as he barely slows down.
26:48
Speaker 2: That was a cool she like grabbed her as he
26:50
Speaker 2: rode by.
26:51
Speaker 4: Yeah. What did you guys think about this being in
26:54
Speaker 4: a cinema? Excuse me? Toe hopscope toe hoscope, yes, toe hoscope. Yeah.
27:00
Speaker 3: Isn't this his first you know, quote unquote wide screen film?
27:05
Speaker 4: Yes? And it shows yeah yeah yeah.
27:08
Speaker 3: I mean I mean I think he made the most
27:10
Speaker 3: of it, for sure. I mean, like there's a lot
27:12
Speaker 3: of you disagree, real hardcore, hardcore, really hardcore disagree.
27:18
Speaker 5: This movie had no business being in scope interesting, and
27:22
Speaker 5: I think if you had a different cinematographer, it probably
27:24
Speaker 5: would have worked better.
27:25
Speaker 3: See, I I do disagree with you on that because
27:28
Speaker 3: I think there are some wonderful moments where it uses
27:32
Speaker 3: that sort of you know, more expansive, you know, wider
27:36
Speaker 3: look to stage the characters at more extreme ends of
27:39
Speaker 3: the screen to give more of a sense of scale
27:41
Speaker 3: of uh, you know, the stairs in the mountain or
27:44
Speaker 3: even the desolation that they're walking through in the beginning.
27:48
Speaker 3: I think there's some interesting camera work with it, So
27:51
Speaker 3: I mean, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm
27:53
Speaker 3: disappointed that we.
27:55
Speaker 5: Do no no like his, like Curosaua's direction of how
28:00
Speaker 5: to use the camera and where to move it and
28:02
Speaker 5: how to follow the characters. I mean that you know
28:05
Speaker 5: that stays true, but there was more than a few
28:08
Speaker 5: points where it was you were missing characters. Sometimes people
28:15
Speaker 5: would fall out a frame and then come back into frame.
28:18
Speaker 5: Cinmatographer would would center the people, and the plane would
28:22
Speaker 5: be wouldn't be level, and you wouldn't quite be quite
28:27
Speaker 5: sure if they were going for a Dutch angle or not.
28:30
Speaker 5: And it's just when you watch seven Samurai and you
28:33
Speaker 5: watch Rachaman, it's much closer to four x three aspect ratio.
28:39
Speaker 5: But it's a stellar use of the Z space because
28:43
Speaker 5: you're forced to utilize it in a much more a
28:46
Speaker 5: square aspect ratio, and so you really pack in the
28:51
Speaker 5: frame and you utilize those levels, especially within seven Samurai,
28:55
Speaker 5: because you have so many characters that you have to
28:56
Speaker 5: work with. And yeah, in Hidden Fortress, you have a
28:59
Speaker 5: few shots where they're like when they're going up to
29:03
Speaker 5: the river and like they're you know, like they're they're
29:05
Speaker 5: hitting it with with sticks trying to see how deep
29:07
Speaker 5: it is, see if the horses can go through it.
29:09
Speaker 5: You know, you naturally utilize the wide landscape there, But
29:14
Speaker 5: those shots were too few and far between, and there
29:16
Speaker 5: was much flatter and weird uses, where like, if this
29:20
Speaker 5: was in a one point three seven to one, it
29:23
Speaker 5: probably would have been better, see it better composed.
29:26
Speaker 3: I'm going to disagree because I think that the camera
29:28
Speaker 3: replacement and the use of space, all that stuff is
29:34
Speaker 3: so clearly intentional that it later would have become known
29:40
Speaker 3: or regarded as a more quote unquote documentary approach to
29:44
Speaker 3: things where it's and you could say, well, then why
29:47
Speaker 3: would you use you know, a CinemaScope thing for that?
29:50
Speaker 3: But I think that a lot of the camera replacement,
29:53
Speaker 3: like for instance, you know, I guess an argument could
29:57
Speaker 3: be made, you know, from your perspective where it's like
29:59
Speaker 3: when they're there are a couple of scenes where the
30:01
Speaker 3: peasants go and they they're in the reads or something
30:05
Speaker 3: like that, and you only see the tops of their heads,
30:07
Speaker 3: but you see like a lot of negative space up
30:10
Speaker 3: above them. You talk about that sort of setup, right,
30:12
Speaker 3: I'm just making sure that I'm understanding, like what aspect.
30:16
Speaker 5: There's so many examples of it feeling haphazard, like it
30:19
Speaker 5: did not feel intentional to me.
30:22
Speaker 4: There's so much wasted space.
30:23
Speaker 5: There was so much wasted space and negative space, and
30:27
Speaker 5: and the thing that kills me is that Kirosawa, being
30:30
Speaker 5: such a Ford fan, should know that landscape is about
30:35
Speaker 5: distance and it's about the distance in between, and.
30:38
Speaker 4: You just you just don't see it.
30:40
Speaker 5: Like you see clumps of of of things together and
30:44
Speaker 5: then negative space on the left and on the right.
30:46
Speaker 3: It just yeah, no, I think I think I really
30:51
Speaker 3: strongly disagree because I do see it as intentional. I
30:54
Speaker 3: also see like I'm I'm calling to mind, you know
30:57
Speaker 3: a bunch of stuff. I think there's much more good
31:00
Speaker 3: that you know obviously there. I'm sure that we could
31:02
Speaker 3: sit down and point to certain things of a yeah,
31:04
Speaker 3: great point there, but like let's get.
31:06
Speaker 2: The time code out, get the time codes out.
31:09
Speaker 3: Yeah no, but but I think that there are a
31:11
Speaker 3: lot more instances of the space being used well and
31:16
Speaker 3: a lot more depth to it than you're giving it
31:17
Speaker 3: credit for.
31:19
Speaker 2: I mean, when I think of a wide shot like that,
31:23
Speaker 2: the one that comes to mind is the towards the
31:26
Speaker 2: very end, when the three horses are riding and you're
31:29
Speaker 2: like way far back and there's like one little horse
31:33
Speaker 2: in the middle that's kind of set in the pace,
31:34
Speaker 2: and they have one that's lagging behind, and then one
31:36
Speaker 2: that's like way ahead, and then we're on it for
31:38
Speaker 2: like fifteen minutes. But uh, yeah, it'll be interesting to
31:43
Speaker 2: see as we progress through more Kirasawa as he is
31:47
Speaker 2: more used to other aspect ratios. And I mean, we've
31:51
Speaker 2: seen many directors, I would say, who transitioned from that
31:56
Speaker 2: square ratio into CinemaScope or things like that, or went
31:59
Speaker 2: from film director or sorry, television directors to film or
32:03
Speaker 2: vice versa. You know, you there's good ways to use
32:06
Speaker 2: the space and bad ways. But I'm just gonna be
32:10
Speaker 2: all diplomatic for you guys. But no, let's make sure
32:13
Speaker 2: we talk a little bit about the music, because often
32:15
Speaker 2: that sometimes gets overlooked here on House Lights.
32:19
Speaker 4: I think it added to the comedy.
32:22
Speaker 2: There was a nice little punchiness, you know, with the
32:24
Speaker 2: with the peasants, and you know the every time a
32:30
Speaker 2: group of I guess soldiers with their flags, you know,
32:34
Speaker 2: strapped to the backs, rode in. There was always a
32:36
Speaker 2: crescendo and things were coming. So it added a lot
32:39
Speaker 2: to how am I. I took it as as cues
32:43
Speaker 2: of how I'm supposed to feel about this moment, which
32:45
Speaker 2: I think is good. When music does that, it's like, oh,
32:48
Speaker 2: this is a lighthearted moment, or oh, we're all now
32:51
Speaker 2: in a muddy pit digging gold. This is bad. But
32:55
Speaker 2: did how did the music strike both of you?
32:58
Speaker 4: Was it?
32:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to say memorable, memorable,
33:02
Speaker 2: but I think it complimented everything.
33:05
Speaker 3: I think it had much more of a character than
33:08
Speaker 3: the previous two that we watched. I felt that there
33:11
Speaker 3: were certain moments where it carried the emotion of the
33:13
Speaker 3: scene which might remind you of another director's works who
33:17
Speaker 3: was heavily influenced by The Hidden Fortress. But I do
33:20
Speaker 3: I think that more than the other two that we watched,
33:23
Speaker 3: this score is there it feels like it has more
33:26
Speaker 3: purpose than the other ones. The other music feels a
33:29
Speaker 3: lot like, well, movies have music, and this is appropriate
33:32
Speaker 3: music for this. This feels more like, let's get the
33:36
Speaker 3: audience in the moment here and let's get them really
33:38
Speaker 3: feeling what's going on.
33:41
Speaker 4: So, yeah, that's where I would land with that.
33:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm right there with you, John. I think this
33:45
Speaker 5: is this music feels it helps convey the emotion, Darren,
33:52
Speaker 5: kind of like what you were saying, you know, like
33:53
Speaker 5: it's really there to kind of ax hit the points.
33:56
Speaker 5: And I find it interesting that we both feel that
34:00
Speaker 5: way when the composer had one week to write the
34:03
Speaker 5: music and oh, I didn't realize that that gosh insane
34:08
Speaker 5: that he was able to accomplish that and do it
34:11
Speaker 5: so well, because it's it's this music is memorable. This music,
34:15
Speaker 5: Like I when I think about to Hey and the
34:18
Speaker 5: other Guy much as chichi uh, it's I think about
34:23
Speaker 5: the music. I think about those moments like when they're
34:25
Speaker 5: walking through the desert, or when they're like fighting each
34:27
Speaker 5: other or they're like yelling at at each other and
34:29
Speaker 5: insulting each other like that music comes to comes to mind.
34:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I mean I think that with the music,
34:37
Speaker 3: I think that's that's a beautiful thing. But what I
34:41
Speaker 3: really want to make sure we talk about, really want
34:43
Speaker 3: to make sure we talk about, is that this performed
34:47
Speaker 3: poorly in the US. This winds up almost basically reversing
34:53
Speaker 3: what the other two that we talked about. Whereas like
34:56
Speaker 3: Raschbond and seven Samurai, they found their international audience and
34:58
Speaker 3: the US audiences were very receptive to it and it
35:01
Speaker 3: all worked very well, and then the US audiences are like, eh,
35:05
Speaker 3: not for me, but I and I as part of that.
35:10
Speaker 3: It was originally released with one hundred and twenty six
35:12
Speaker 3: minute runtime, right, which is slightly shorter. But Tristan I
35:15
Speaker 3: put to you, would the reissue in nineteen sixty two
35:19
Speaker 3: with the ninety minute run time, would you be interested
35:22
Speaker 3: in seeing that version of the film.
35:24
Speaker 4: I would.
35:24
Speaker 5: I would watch this again if to see a different cut.
35:28
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
35:28
Speaker 3: And that's where the Criterion Collection lets us down is
35:31
Speaker 3: they should release those alternate cuts of Alt Ladies so
35:35
Speaker 3: that we get a sense for, oh, maybe this did
35:38
Speaker 3: work better for somebody than that. And I, you know,
35:41
Speaker 3: I'd love to know which cut certain people saw that
35:44
Speaker 3: influenced them back in that time. Which cut of this
35:47
Speaker 3: did they see, because that could have also shaped their
35:49
Speaker 3: perception of the film really heavily.
35:52
Speaker 5: So everyone should go full oliver Stone and do four
35:56
Speaker 5: cuts of the same movie.
35:58
Speaker 3: But then you have to make sure or to later
36:01
Speaker 3: publicly retract and apologize for at least one of those
36:04
Speaker 3: cuts to for the full Oliver Stone experience and not
36:08
Speaker 3: be Ridley Scott and just insists all five of them
36:11
Speaker 3: are perfect.
36:12
Speaker 4: So you know, there you go.
36:14
Speaker 2: Well, while it didn't do extremely well in the States,
36:18
Speaker 2: it did do fairly well in Japan. I mean, I
36:21
Speaker 2: don't know the conversion rates, but for one hundred and
36:24
Speaker 2: ninety five million dollars sorry million yen budget and making
36:29
Speaker 2: three hundred and forty two million, that's nothing to sneeze at.
36:33
Speaker 2: And I believe it was his most successful until we
36:37
Speaker 2: eventually got Yojimbo, which you.
36:40
Speaker 4: Know, atopped it.
36:41
Speaker 2: So it's just it's so interesting, especially as we're going
36:46
Speaker 2: through these houses, looking at not only this path of
36:52
Speaker 2: a director through his career, but how you know, we've
36:57
Speaker 2: all talked about, oh, this is the blank check movie.
37:00
Speaker 2: He made so much money before, you know, and this,
37:03
Speaker 2: and oh look he had a string of three that
37:05
Speaker 2: made money and then it did poorly and so the
37:09
Speaker 2: next one had less of it. But like, it's just
37:11
Speaker 2: such an interesting course when everything's in hindsight. I mean,
37:16
Speaker 2: nowadays we're looking at directors and going, oh, what's their
37:19
Speaker 2: next going to be, And we didn't know that that's
37:22
Speaker 2: really going to be influenced by what the lead actor
37:25
Speaker 2: from that other movie was in two years ago. Like
37:27
Speaker 2: it's you know, we're in the real time. But I
37:30
Speaker 2: think for me watching this, even though it was only
37:36
Speaker 2: kind of almost just fan service of oh I've heard
37:38
Speaker 2: a Star Wars connection, I want to experience that and
37:42
Speaker 2: see what it is. I did enjoy the story. I
37:46
Speaker 2: think I'm going to roll around third base across the
37:50
Speaker 2: river with my sticks and give my rating as I
37:54
Speaker 2: think we've said most everything we can about this movie
37:58
Speaker 2: and we don't want to go to one hundred and
37:59
Speaker 2: twenty six minutes.
38:01
Speaker 4: That's just not But I think I.
38:05
Speaker 2: Do really enjoy the you know, the peasants. I think
38:08
Speaker 2: the humor worked for them. I think, like you said, John,
38:13
Speaker 2: you know Mafunes, just every shot he's in, he with
38:19
Speaker 2: his powerful calf muscles, because dear Lord, that man could
38:24
Speaker 2: like just roundhouse kick anybody into the ground, but yeah,
38:31
Speaker 2: it I just kind of wished there was more, you know,
38:35
Speaker 2: more of a hero to tell us where we're going
38:39
Speaker 2: with the story, and it worked without it. But you
38:43
Speaker 2: can definitely see where Lucas took inspiration. But wasn't like
38:47
Speaker 2: I need to make a shot for shot Hidden Fortress movie,
38:50
Speaker 2: Like that doesn't make sense.
38:51
Speaker 4: That's not the.
38:53
Speaker 2: Movie you want to reinvent for your space fantasy. Amazing picture.
39:00
Speaker 2: So I'm going to give Hidden Fortress a three. I
39:03
Speaker 2: think it was a decent movie. I would if I
39:08
Speaker 2: could find the ninety minute. I agree with Tristan. I
39:10
Speaker 2: think I would watch it to see how it changed
39:13
Speaker 2: the pace and if it was a little more digestible, like, oh,
39:17
Speaker 2: I could revisit the ninety minute whenever. I was joking
39:22
Speaker 2: with Tristan earlier about when watching subtitle films, it's a
39:26
Speaker 2: little different experience because you can't just put it on
39:29
Speaker 2: the background, like oh, yeah, just it's like, nope, this
39:33
Speaker 2: is what I'm watching full screen. Reading the subtitles for
39:37
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty six minutes straight like that is
39:40
Speaker 2: what is required.
39:42
Speaker 4: But it's worth it.
39:43
Speaker 2: For you, dear listeners of house Lights. So yes, three stars.
39:47
Speaker 2: For me, John the Hidden Podcaster, what do you give
39:52
Speaker 2: on this reviewing? And did it kind of change, like
39:56
Speaker 2: you said, from your initial when you watched it all
39:59
Speaker 2: those years ago, Well.
40:00
Speaker 3: It definitely changed from that. I wind up landing and
40:05
Speaker 3: Tristan is going to be mad at me for this one.
40:08
Speaker 3: I wind up giving it a four. And the reason
40:10
Speaker 3: I give it a four is while there are issues,
40:12
Speaker 3: and while there are pacing things that I think can
40:15
Speaker 3: be resolved, I think they're all basically in the first
40:19
Speaker 3: half of the film, and once it starts going. You know,
40:24
Speaker 3: maybe I have the memory of a goldfish or whatever,
40:25
Speaker 3: but like it's one of those things where it's like,
40:27
Speaker 3: once it gets going, I'm willing to forgive that. I'm like, Okay,
40:30
Speaker 3: well we got there. You know, the trip to where
40:33
Speaker 3: I wanted to go took longer than I would have liked,
40:35
Speaker 3: but I got there. And unlike Tristan, I think it
40:39
Speaker 3: is well shot, and I do think that it looks
40:43
Speaker 3: it looks cool. I think there's a lot of stuff
40:45
Speaker 3: in it that I think is really interesting, the way
40:47
Speaker 3: that they stage it, in the way that they put
40:49
Speaker 3: things together, and so I wind up with a four.
40:53
Speaker 3: I think the score works really well for the first
40:57
Speaker 3: time of the three that we've watched. And so yeah,
41:01
Speaker 3: that's that's from Land with a four.
41:02
Speaker 4: So it's a three from Darren, a four for me
41:06
Speaker 4: and Tristan drum roll.
41:09
Speaker 5: I'm given this a three as well.
41:11
Speaker 4: There you go.
41:13
Speaker 5: I think this is I think this is a fun movie.
41:15
Speaker 5: I'm glad I saw it. I think the music is interesting.
41:19
Speaker 5: I think the characterizations are pretty great. I think there's
41:22
Speaker 5: a lot of things that aren't needed, mainly, you know,
41:25
Speaker 5: entire characters. I feel like so many scenes can be
41:29
Speaker 5: cut down and don't need to be there. And unlike John,
41:35
Speaker 5: I have an eye for cinematography and so I can
41:37
Speaker 5: tell when things are.
41:38
Speaker 4: A little off. That's fair.
41:40
Speaker 5: That's like like John's opinions, you know. And it's just
41:44
Speaker 5: I think with that it's it brings it down to
41:46
Speaker 5: a three. But this is it's a solid three, like
41:48
Speaker 5: this is this is not this is not like three
41:51
Speaker 5: is a bad number. It's not like this is a
41:53
Speaker 5: trash movie. It's just I think there's a lot wrong
41:56
Speaker 5: with it, and but there's a lot of good things too.
42:00
Speaker 5: It's just nowhere near to the level of Rashaman or
42:04
Speaker 5: what seven Samurai could have been if it was much shorter.
42:07
Speaker 2: So we've gone through the glade of Rassaman, met the
42:11
Speaker 2: Seventh Samurai, and found the hidden fortress. Next week is
42:16
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty one's Yojimbo. Here on house Lights, Join
42:21
Speaker 1: The Revolution, Join the net Party.