Hot take — this may be my favorite Toshirô Mifune performance. The moment he sees that his son and daughter-in-law and real beast of a samurai comes out is so good. The best part of the film is that it spends most of its time in a build up (similar to HIGH NOON). Everyone knows that blood will be spilled, but everyone from the Lord’s vassals, chamberlains, stewards, guards, and samurai try to prevent it because Mifune is that much of a badass. I also love how formal everything is. The film takes its time keeping you waiting for the moment the powder keg finally bursts. Even when people are monstrous they do it honorable and bureaucratically with formal letters. It was like watching a work email chain happen in olden days. You can see this film's influence all over some of the best films like BRAVEHEART (even though that event actually happened in real life), UNFORGIVEN, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, and Kobayashi's other film HARA KIRI.
