‘The Dutchman’ Filmmaker Andre Gaines Explains Why ‘Seven Samurai’ Is a ‘Masterclass in Craftsmanship’

Countless films and filmmakers have been influenced by auteur filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s body of work, especially his 1954 epic “Seven Samurai.”

The film, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, follows a group of seven samurai warriors who save a little village from annihilation at the hands of a group of bandits in 15th-century Japan.

Whether it’s Kurosawa’s storytelling, blocking, camera movement or even the use of weather as a character, his influences can be directly traced in modern cinema.

Quentin Tarantino’s films, such as “Kill Bill” and “Hateful Eight,” all have influences that were pulled from the film. In the 2012 film “Django Unchained,” hooded raiders come over a crested hill on horseback, which was a scene directly lifted from “Seven Samurai.”

Kurosawa’s film is the latest to screen as part of Variety 120 Screening Series presented by Barco, a summer-long program hosted by Jazz Tangcay that celebrates Variety‘s 120th anniversary by showing iconic films such as “All About Eve” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” “The Dutchman” filmmaker Andre Gaines joined Tangcay for the conversation.

Speaking about the film’s impact and Kurosawa’s filmmaking style being so influential, Gaines said, “The degree of difficulty of what Kurosawa did for this film in 1954 cannot be overstated. The composition, the symmetry of the shots, just everything about it. Every shot has something, whether it’s rain, a clear sky, that shot through the trees that everybody has seen in multiple movies, or some mist. It’s just enchanting to watch.”

In recent times, the film has been called the first “Avengers” by some. “Well, this is the first movie that established an ensemble to fight the bad guys,” Gaines said. “It rounds up a bunch of heroes to come together to defeat a villain. What’s interesting is that you don’t see the villain very much.”

Over the years, the film has seen numerous alternate versions including the initial North American release, which was cut to 158 minutes and retitled “The Magnificent Seven.” Variety screened the film’s original version — the full 207-minute film — and some members of the audience, many of whom were experiencing the film for the first time, were shocked to hear the runtime. Gaines discussed the film’s pacing. “He, Kurosawa, famously said, ‘I kind of edit myself into a corner and force the editors to like pull me out of it.’ A lot of people don’t give him as much credit as he deserves as a writer, that’s where he always believed that’s when you start directing is when you can actually sit down on the blank page and really visualize your thoughts in a way that is easy to convey to your crew and easy for people, for an audience to understand. Like that’s the real essence of a story.”

Kurosawa’s genius also lies in how he shot an entire battle in rain and places the camera in the middle of the dirt and action of the battle. Since then, countless films have borrowed from that, such as “John Wick” to center a fight in pouring rain. Even Gaines used rain as a character in his latest feature “The Dutchman.” He said, “Rain is very much a character in the story, and that was a direct influence from Kurosawa and his body of work.” In shooting his thriller, he said he used rain and the elements “to heighten, expand and push emotion along.”

The “Star Wars” universe is filled with nods to Kurosawa, whether it’s plot, dialogue or even camera work. Most notably, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season 2’s “Bounty Hunters” feature Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano partnering with bounty hunters to protect a village. And “The Mandalorian” Season 1 episode “Sanctuary” where Din Djarin and Cara Dune fight off raiders threatening krill farmers on an alien planet.

Gaines pointed out the reason filmmakers continue to borrow from “Seven Samurai” is that the film is “a masterclass in craftsmanship at the end of the day.” He added, “You can, you can borrow something from this movie for an entire directorial career and still not reach the heights that it did.”