Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
I watched Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy many years ago, and as I recall, I was less than impressed. I now stand ready and willing to recant my previous opinion, of the first film anyway. Sweeping, epic, and deeply melodramatic, this fictional account of the early days of Musashi Miyamoto — arguably Japan’s most famous samurai and swordsman — is centered on a solid performance by the legendary Toshirô Mifune. (Would you expect anything else?) He captures the young Musashi’s boorishness and thirst for glory and then, as the film progresses, his frustration, anger, and regret. Kaoru Yachigusa also delivers as the long-suffering Otsu, who initially resents Musashi for taking her fiancé away from her and then slowly becomes his advocate. Her performance is sentimental to the hilt, but her empathy and lack of guile elevates what could’ve been a thankless and clichéd role. Add in Ikuma Dan’s sweeping score and some gorgeous shots of the Japanese countryside, and it’s easy to see why Samurai I won the Oscar for “Best Foreign Language Film” in 1955.