Will Thornton recommends Kurosawa’s four-hour-long masterpiece for this month’s international film spotlight.

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is a film with a colossal reputation, but also a notorious four-hour runtime that is utterly daunting to everyone who has ever considered watching it. This was the situation I found myself in a couple of weeks ago, and it was only thanks to a random name picker that I finally forced myself to watch the Japanese classic; a decision that I found myself beyond grateful for when I finished the film.

Seven Samurai is filled to the brim with beautiful directing that will no doubt stand the test of time.

Above all else, the most astounding feat Samurai pulls off is having such an enormous runtime whilst keeping the audience engaged and absorbed in the film’s world and narrative. There was never a single moment in the whole four hours where I felt bored or wanted to have a break from the film, and this is all down to Kurosawa’s incredible skills in directing, editing, and writing these classic samurai action films.

Seven Samurai is filled to the brim with beautiful directing that will no doubt stand the test of time. It also features a cast of well-acted and perfectly written main characters, all of whom you’ll find yourself rooting for. This leads to both joyous highs and devastating lows throughout this perfectly-crafted film which I urge you to watch as soon as you can (no matter how discouraging the runtime may seem).