Mifune: The Last Samurai Reviews
Cineastes just discovering the Mifune-Kurosawa collaborations are encouraged to seek out Mifune: The Last Samurai to better understand the actor's immeasurable impact on both Japanese and American cinema.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 9, 2022
Mifune: The Last Samurai benefits from insights from the subject's family and friends, and from a large stash of clips, from films whose DNA has become a vital part of our postmodern sensibility.
Full Review | Jun 9, 2020
The Last Samurai manages to appeal to both die-hard fans and newcomers looking for an entry point into Mifune's vast filmography.
Full Review | Apr 30, 2020
To the extent that The Last Samurai lets you watch clips from these and other Mifune films, it's as good a time as you could want to have in a movie theater.
Full Review | Sep 19, 2017
What the film does succeed at is reminding us what a genius Mifune was and hopefully it will inspire a new generation to discover him.
Full Review | Feb 3, 2017
The film works best as an appetite stimulant for richer cinematic fare.
Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 3, 2017
Nobody in cinema can rival the unique, electric combination of scowling power and exuberant physicality of Mifune.
Full Review | Jan 12, 2017
Serves as a fascinating primer on one of the movies' undisputable Icons, as well as taking care of a viewer's to-watch list for months.
Full Review | Jan 6, 2017
This concise documentary focuses largely on his artistic partnership with Akira Kurosawa but includes enough about Japan's film industry and the star's charmed life to engross fans and casual viewers alike.
Full Review | Jan 5, 2017
"Mifune: The Last Samurai" functions best as an introduction to one of Cinema's most disciplined and unique actors.
Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 2, 2017
At the absolute least, you will certainly leave the theater with a list of excellent Toshiro Mifune movies that you either missed altogether, or will be re-watching as soon as possible.
Full Review | Jan 1, 2017
Mifune: The Last Samurai should be required viewing for any fan of classic Japanese film.
Full Review | Dec 27, 2016
Okazaki set out to remind the world of Mifune's creative brilliance and to that end he has done a fine service to the world of film.
Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10 | Dec 16, 2016
What resonates most from Mifune are the film clips, of course. Watching him on screen remains an exhilarating experience. As many state in the film, there was no one quite like him.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 15, 2016
... Mifune: The Last Samurai is a perfectly serviceable documentary on the great Japanese actor Toshir Mifune if you aren't looking for any information you couldn't find on the man's Wikipedia page
Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Dec 12, 2016
Classic scenes from Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo are shown, but many of Kurosawa's finest with Mifune are skipped over entirely, including two majestic noirs, Stray Dog and High and Low.
Full Review | Dec 8, 2016
A worthy addition to the director-and-their-muse documentary subgenre that includes films like Liv & Ingmar or Werner Herzog's My Best Fiend.
Full Review | Dec 8, 2016
If you're a fan of the topic, it's at least mildly entertaining, but it rarely feels like anything more than a glorified DVD extra feature.
Full Review | Dec 7, 2016
[It] wants us to understand how the actor's life influenced his work, and what he drew from to create such memorable onscreen figures.
Full Review | Dec 3, 2016
Worthwhile look at screen icon and movie god Toshiro Mifune, especially his historic collaboration with Akira Kurosawa.
Full Review | Original Score: B plus | Dec 2, 2016