SEVEN SAMURAI

If you were concerned about the absence of Kurosawa films on this list, don't be. The late Japanese filmmaker was a giant not just in East Asian cinema, but also around the world; his legacy and influence can be seen in works by Hollywood greats such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Seven Samurai may be shorter than the second picture on this list – clocking in at a scant 207 minutes – but it remains the most epic piece of art on the list. A little town hires seven samurai (you got it) to guard their crops against robbers who come on a regular basis to take their produce. That is Seven Samurai in a nutshell, and yet Kurosawa manages not only to make a three-hour-plus picture out of it, but also to make it engaging at every single moment and full of believable – and, more crucially, lovable – people.

Seven Samurai sets good against evil and lets the action run wild, a pattern is seen in a slew of previous English-language epics like the Star Wars series and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In Seven Samurai, Kurosawa's ability to capture riveting action while keeping everything plain for the spectator is at its peak. Unlike the other East Asian films on the list, Seven Samurai yells with action and ferocity. Kurosawa's greatest, East Asian cinema's best, and maybe the best in the world.

Detailed information:

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto & Hideo Oguning

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Isao Kimura, Daisuke Katō
Release dates: 26 April 1954
Running time: 207 minutes