Steven Okazaki's Mifune: The Last Samurai is a perfectly serviceable documentary on the great Japanese actor Toshirô Mifune that doesn't feature any information or insights that couldn't be gained from scanning the man's Wikipedia page. Though the film does lip service to Mifune's work outside his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa, Okazaki is interested first and foremost on the 16 films they made together. And of these, the historical dramas and chanbara take startling precedence. Three of their greatest films--Stray Dog (1949), I Live in Fear (1955), and High and Low (1963)--get, at best, an individual frame in an extended montage (come to think of it, I don't think I Live in Fear even gets that). In my opinion, the only crime they could be convicted of was featuring Mifune in a role where he didn't have to carry a sword. Okazaki tries to pigeon-hole Mifune within his samurai image--hence the title. But Mifune was so much more. He worked in all kinds of genres. Okazaki is trying to force a short-sighted hagiography that, in my opinion, only serves to truncate any possible appreciation of the man's talent and impact. Still...I like Okazaki's use of orange subtitles and his straight-to-the-point intertitles that introduced the major films he focused on. It gave the film a distinctive personal touch I find lacking in even the best documentaries these days. Three more quick complaints. First, where was the mention of Mifune's Christianity? Did that not fit Okazaki's narrative? Second, why Keanu Reeves as a narrator? He was needlessly monotone and disaffected. Third, why gloss over the fact that Kurosawa and Mifune's relationship became combative and strained in their twilight years, not just distant?
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I actually recycled much of this mini review into a formal review on the movie. You can read it here: theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-mifune-the-last-samurai/92395.
5/10
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