47 Ronin

Felix Planer · March 3, 2014

Hi there,

I'm curious what this forum thinks of "47 Ronin" since it was shot by acclaimed Director of Photography John Mathieson.

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and felt that the cinematography was quite good in places and a lot of scenes were beautifully lit.

Though I must say there were a lot of things that "killed" the film for me (but that probably wasn't the DoPs fault):

- some of the CGI was really bad. well don't get me wrong I'm sure a lot of people did their best but that snow fox in the forest just had me cringing in my seat, cause it just didn't look right (That's not the cinematographers fault right?)

- the story ... (well, the fantasy take on that topic is quite nice, but why couldn't this be realized by a japanese prduction/director? I guess it just shows if a topic is your culture and a subject you've been brought up with and in contact since ... well your whole life)

- But the editing was the worst part (sorry I'm not very impartial on this). Well let me explain what I mean: I noticed the editing right away but I paid special interest to that one scene where the "big" character gets wounded and they lie him down in the hut and every ronin is there to well ... just be there for him while he's in pain. I felt that scene was pretty well lit and the atmosphere was great and the master shot looked like a painting (hell the costume was great!).

So, while the set up for that particular scene was quite nice but the editing was so hectic and unbelievably fast-paced. Why? That style didn't fit the scene at all. Why is the editing so - kind of unfocused - when everything in japanese culture and also in this film tells us that the japanese are thoughtful, honorful and quiet?

There are many other scenes like this (e.g. the one where Keanu's charakter sits outside under the starry sky and we get a quiet moment of peace before the ensuing attack. Again: great set-up, but the editing just kept jumping from that great wide-shot to run of the mill shot reverse shot).

Well sorry for that lenghty post but I keep thinking about this and would be happy to discuss it on this forum.