This film is currently unavailable

Mifune : The Last Samurai
The on and off-screen character of Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s first international movie star, is explored in this illuminating documentary exploring the life and legacy of this mercurial icon.
Documentary 2016 80 mins
Director: Steven Okazaki
Overview
Nearly 20 years after his death, Toshiro Mifune remains a true giant of Japanese cinema. Rich with archive footage and personal reminiscences from family and friends, this Keanu Reeves-narrated documentary shines a light on both the man and the actor, starting with his childhood and military service, through to his early years in the popular ‘chanbara’ action movies that he would later draw on for a string of masterpieces made with legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Featuring contributions from Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, Mifune: The Last Samurai reveals him as a formidable and mercurial talent, both onscreen and off, and an influence that still resonates through world cinema.

Accessibility
Related
Documentary

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner
Documentary 1975 46 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s moving portrait of a record-breaking ski jumper.

Room 237 Room 237
Documentary 2012 103 mins Director: Rodney Ascher
Rodney Ascher's enigmatic essay film weaves together the contrasting theories of five different narrators who believe Stanley Kubrick deliberately buried hidden messages in his 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.

Land of Silence and Darkness Land of Silence and Darkness
Documentary 1971 85 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s profound and deeply moving documentary about the experiences of a community of deaf-blind people.

Welcome to Leith Welcome to Leith
Documentary 2015 86 mins Director: Michael Beach Nichols
What would you do if a Nazi moved next door? This chilling documentary follows the white supremacist takeover of a tiny Dakotan town.

The Great White Silence The Great White Silence
Documentary 1924 107 mins Silent Director: Herbert G. Ponting
The BFI Archive's restoration of Herbert Ponting's official film record of Captain Scott's tragic expedition to the South Pole, with a new score by Simon Fisher Turner.

Pride & Protest Pride & Protest
Documentary 2020 90 mins Director: Blaise Singh
The modern face of protest is the focus of this timely and necessary documentary.
Japanese Classics

Ran Ran
Drama 1985 154 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.

Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujiro Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujiro Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.

100 Years of Japanese Cinema 100 Years of Japanese Cinema
Documentary 1996 52 mins Director: Nagisa Oshima
Archive propels argument in this fascinating exploration of the social and cultural importance of Japan's film heritage.

Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.

Tokyo-Ga Tokyo-Ga
Documentary 1985 92 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Profiling one of the great directors of World Cinema, Wim Wenders delivers this moving portrait of Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu.

Sansho Dayu Sansho Dayu
Period drama 1954 125 mins Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi’s historical epic is among the greatest of all Japanese films, and a masterpiece of humanist cinema.
New

Mulholland Dr. Mulholland Dr.
Thriller 2001 142 mins Director: David Lynch
David Lynch’s beautifully baffling, surreal psychological thriller.

Babette's Feast Babette's Feast
Drama 1987 99 mins Director: Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel’s Oscar-winning story of a Parisian chef who finds refuge in a Danish village; a magical film about the power of the senses.

Antichrist Antichrist
Horror 2009 104 mins Director: Lars von Trier
After tragedy strikes, a couple retreat to a cabin in the woods in order to grieve. However, they find things go from bad to worse, in this brutal interrogation of nature from Lars von Trier.

Enfant Terrible Enfant Terrible
Biopic 2020 135 mins Director: Oskar Roehler
The life and loves of celebrated filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder are laid bare in this engrossing, unconventional biopic.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Drama 2002 121 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, Oldboy) kicks off his celebrated ‘Vengeance trilogy’ with this dazzling, shocking tale of kidnapping, organ transplants and revenge.

Stroszek Stroszek
Drama 1977 108 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s uniquely askew take on Americana follows the journey of Bruno S. as he leaves Berlin for the bleak trailer parks of Wisconsin.