The Curated Series: Issue No. 10

The Curated Series

ISSUE No. 10

Nikki

Giovanni

Dreams

By Nikki Giovanni

in my younger years
before i learned
black people aren’t
suppose to dream
i wanted to be
a raelet
and say “dr o wn d in my youn tears”
or “tal kin bout tal kin bout”
or marjorie hendricks and grind
all up against the mic
and scream
“baaaaaby nightandday
baaaaaby nightandday”
then as i grew and matured
i became more sensible
and decided i would
settle down
and just become
a sweet inspiration

POEM

Source: The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (2003)

Seven
Samurai

Akira

Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa’s all-time epic Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) is a three-hour-plus story of a sixteen-century farming village whose inhabitants must find someone to help them ward off groups of invading bandits.

These attacks leave the village in a state of chaos--its crops are pillaged, the women abducted and the men killed.

FILM

WATCH AND BUY FILM ON THE CRITERION

‘Find hungry samurai!’ wisely advises the village elder, played by Kokuten Kodo, when they try to find warriors in a nearby provincial town.
Offering only board and three meals a day as their payment, the villagers have to hire wandering, masterless samurai (ronin).

With absolutely legendary performances by Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, a masterful cinematography by Asakazu Nakai, and an enchantingly beautiful score by composer Fumio Hayasaka, Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai remains one of the greatest films ever made.

Writer: Akira Kurosawa Director: Akira Kurosawa Language: Japanese, French Cinematography: Asakazu Nakai Music: Fumio Hayasaka