It's definitely not the film to discover what Kurosawa was all about, I agree, and if it was made by someone else, it would probably be seen as a classic. The thing is when you are Akira Kurosawa your film is going to be compared to all the stuff you did before. I think it is a great film, really there are a whole bunch of scenes in it that I just loved. Maybe I needed to watch it when I did. I needed something at that moment to remind me that people can be good to and for each other. 

I do prefer old films and the 1970s is really a great decade. I like seeing what different directors, particularly big ones, did during the decade. I also think that the characters in older films are really treated like people and in many current films they are sort of treated as things. I just think there was a more humanist approach to filmmaking in older films and I miss that in a lot of new stuff.  I don't know if that makes sense.