By AI CreativeMedia

Mifune: The Last Samurai is a new documentary by filmmaker Steven Okazaki, who won an Oscar for the documentary short subject, Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo (1990). Mifune screened at the Venice and Telluride film festivals and will get a select theatrical release in late November and early December.

Narrated by Keanu Reeves, the documentary includes interviews with: Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Teruyo Nogami (Kurosawa’s longtime script supervisor), Kyoko Kagawa (RED BEARD), Yoshio Tsuchiya (SEVEN SAMURAI), Takeshi Kato (THRONE OF BLOOD), Yoko Tsukasa (YOJIMBO), and many more. The feature-length documentary explores the evolution of the samurai film; Mifune’s childhood and World War II experience; his accidental entry into the movies; and dynamic but sometimes turbulent collaboration with Kurosawa.

Here is the official trailer and synopsis for Mifune: The Last Samurai:

Mifune: The Last Samurai, a new film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, explores the accidental movie career of Toshiro Mifune, one of the true giants of world cinema. Mifune made 16 remarkable films with director Akira Kurosawa during the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema, including Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Together they thrilled audiences and influenced filmmaking around the world, providing direct inspiration for not only The Magnificent Seven and Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood’s breakthrough, A Fistful of Dollars, but also George Lucas’ Star Wars.

Mifune: The Last Samurai opens theatrically on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016 in NY, Dec.2 in Los Angeles, Dec. 9 in San Francisco, and a wider national release to follow.