The Samurai Trilogy (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

has everything romance morality swordsmanship spiritualism courage been watching here and there always see something new, very realistic samurai action a great actor plays musashi-classic!

The first and favorite trilogy my mom introduced me to as a kid after "Seven Samurai" in the 60s. Before technology, I had to wait until a film festival showed the trilogy or recently as separate films on satellite. I last binge-watched the three films in a theater at a '70s Berkeley festival. Now, I can watch at home on a big screen with surround sound. Epic.

I have seen the 3-movies many times in the past on different media. The quality of the video on all of the previous media had been bad-to-poor. The video clarity and color display on these Blu-ray disks version is first-rate. It made the experience of seeing the 3-movies like a brand new experience and well worth the price. This Criterion Collection set version of the films are also on DVD format disks and the video quality is also good, but the Blu-ray version seems even better.

I was able to secure a correct regional copy of The criterion Blu-ray and was very pleased.This might be my favorite Japanese film(s) as it follows the classic model of the heroes journey.This Samurai Trilogy collection includes Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple and Samurai III: Duel at Granryu Island.The three films follow Mushashi Miyamoto from wild rebellious youth to pensive sword-master. The films are based on the novel “Musashi” from the 1930s, and so they include fictional elements, as well as both myth and historical facts. On a side note, the novel is the same source material for the manga Vagabond. So the 1950s Samurai Trilogy and the modern Vagabond manga share this narrative connection which may be of interest to Japanophiles.If you like classic film, then this is set is highly recommended. The cinematography is always excellent and the acting impeccable. Toshiro Mifune is masterful and it’s enjoyable to see him in a classic Samurai movie directed by somebody besides Kurosawa. I also found the love story moving and side characters believable. The fact that this trilogy is also shot in color gives these films an ethereal grandeur that almost pulls it out of its own time.The Samurai Trilogy is not to be missed by anyone that loves classic storytelling, traditional drama, the hero’s journey and swordsmanship of a bygone age.

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The trilogy is slowly paced but thematically wonderful. The realism is apparent.

For fans of Mifune and Kurosawa, no words are necessary. But for those raised on Western Cinematography and story telling, it is like Opera, you either love it or you hate it.The film is outstanding in its scenes of color and panorama. Some of the best camera work ever done.Japanese film-making cares very little about happy endings, feel-good movies, or "chic" flicks. So don't look for them here. But they do have emotional power. The pain of Musashi, in the first film of the Trilogy, is excruciating when he is hunted, starved, and finally suspended by rope from a pine for days upon returning home from a long battle, and the torment of Otsu in the second film, as she spend years waiting near a bridge that Musashi might one day cross. Excellent acting....very powerful performances.These films' underlying themes are all about morality. All the characters are heroes. Otsu is long-suffering while loyal to her true love. Musashi is a soul searching warrior. While he spends years refining his swordmanship and seeking honor and fame, she waits hopefully that someday his early promise of a peaceful life with her is realized. I think she ends up a virgin who has been told twice by Musashi that he loves her. Unless I've totally missed the point, these characters are role models. Kurosawa portrays them as what is best in the collective Japanese character. Highly moral views. The women are virgins and the men are swordsmen without defeat. Interesting, huh?Musashi acquires a reputation as a fighter, but he is frequently instructed that his fighting prowess is not an end in itself and is not the path of a true Samurai. He travels a long road lasting three films to find it. In the end, one Samurai is dead and one is alive. What the surviving Samurai attains is the question I ask. There is no victory, no position attained, no money gained. The point may be, that there is no defeat. Certainly the dead are defeated. The survivor knows he has never been and becomes the epitome of the Samurai. This theme is restated in "The Magnificent Seven" (an American remake of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai")....Places you call home..None; Insults taken...None; Enemies living...NoneThe appeal for the Western audience is the desire to be learn cinematography, story-telling, and Japanese Feudal Culture from a master in the art of film-making. This film is rivaled, in scope, only by the likes of "Gone With the Wind", "Bridge On the River Kwai", or "Lawrence of Arabia" in American Film.I gave this Trilogy Four Stars. To earn a Five Star you have to have a killer soundtrack. This did not.

Toshiro Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto. Do you really need another reason?