Almost as much about filmmaker Akira Kurosaway (DREAMS) as it is about its titular subject MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI - narrated by Keanu Reeves - gives viewers a peak into the life of actor Toshiro Mifune (I LIVE IN FEAR) but also explores the influence of a collaboration that created films and forged an archetypal acting style for which Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name", STAR WARS, and tons of other samurai, western, and action films would not have existed without. Reluctantly working as a child model for his Japanese national father trying to keep his photography studio afloat in China and stoically withstanding the jibes and abuse of his superiors when drafted into the army into the Japanese Imperial Army, Mifune came out of the other side of the war with the intention of becoming a camera assistant only to be "drafted" again into Toho's "New Face" competition. Mifune would make his debut opposite Takashi Shimura (IKIRU) in the Kurosawa-scripted SNOW TRAILS and would start honing his raw talent in a number of Kurosawa in a series of vehicles - including RASHOMON which brought both of them and the whole of Japanese filmmaking to notice in the west - both emerging in 1954 after a seven year ban on "chambara" (sword-fighting) films in top form with the iconic THE SEVEN SAMURAI. The documentary then charts their successful pairing through several genres and notable titles before parting ways, Mifune's continuing fame and work for other directors like Hiroshi Inagaki (SAMURAI), his troubled personal life, his brushes with Western fame (being advised by his American agent to turn down the role of Obi Wan in STAR WARS and his role in Spielberg's 1941), the forming of his own production company and move to television, to his last days. Commentators include his son Shirô Mifune, Kurosawa's son Hisao Kurosawa, actors Takeshi Katô (THE BAD SLEEP WELL), stuntman Haruo Nakajima (GODZILLA), and Yôsuke Natsuki, actresses Terumi Niki and Kyôko Kagawa, Kurosawa's script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, director Sadao Nakajima, as well as American admirers Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg.