Directed by Akira Kurosawa and considered one of the greatest films ever made, tells the story of a group of samurai who are hired to defend a village from bandits.
Another Kurosawa classic, Yojimbo features a lone ronin who enters a town controlled by two rival gangs. The samurai pits both sides against each other, offering a darkly humorous, action-packed take on the samurai genre.
The film, which is directed by Masaki Kobayashi, explores the samurai class's underlying hypocrisy. It is a striking tale of an aged samurai seeking revenge for his son-in-law's death and a condemnation of the strict and frequently violent samurai code.
Ran is an epic retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set in feudal Japan. An aging warlord retires and entrusts his empire to his three sons. However, he soon realizes that power has corrupted them and made them uncontrollable.
Directed by Yoji Yamada, it follows the life of Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai employed as a bureaucrat. Poor, but not destitute, he still manages to lead a content and happy life with his daughters and his mother, who has dementia.
13 Assassins is a remake of the 1963 classic. It’s a story of 13 samurai who come together to assassinate a sadistic lord. The movie is renowned for its intense, climactic battle scenes and its depiction of self-sacrifice and duty.
Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress is a tale of a general and a princess who must escape enemy territory in return for gold without knowing that he is a general and the woman is a princess.