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Hiroyuki Sanada,
Rie Miyazawa,
Nenji Kobayashi,
more...
:
Yoji Yamada
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: Not Rated
: Empire Pictures
: Action, Drama, Foreign, Japan, Martial Arts
: 129 min.
: Japanese
: English
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Veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada -- who is perhaps most famous for cranking out most of the 48 films of the Tora-san series -- directs this good-natured drama set in the waning years of the Edo Period (1600-1867). Seibei (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a mid-level samurai struggling to get by on stipend of 50 rice bales a year while working as a clerk at the clan office. While his co-workers spend their evenings sucking down sake at the local pub, Seibei heads straight home to care for his two young daughters and doddering mother. One day his friend Rin-no-Jo (Mitsu Fukikoshi) tells him that his sister Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa) is leaving her thuggish husband and returning home. Tomoe soon starts to frequent Seibei's house, taking care of his daughters, while Seibei quietly falls in love with the attractive young lass. After defeating her husband in a duel, armed with only a pointed stick, Seibei is asked if he wants to marry Tomoe. Seibei declines, too embarrassed by his poverty to accept. Later as he prepares to perform the distasteful task of killing a fellow samurai, he learns that Tomoe is engaged to another man. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
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| The Samurai as Family Guy
by talltale
January 17, 2005 - 7:38 AM PST
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI is quite a surprise, unless you are expecting a "family" Samurai movie (of which, as far as I know, there have been damn few). This is not Disney-family, however; it's deeper and richer, with that peculiar (to me, at least) combination of reticence, repression, caring and shame that seems quintessentially Japanese. You do get some Samurai action, but nothing like Kurosawa or (thank god) Tom Cruise; in fact, it buries a piece of picture-pretty schlock like "The Last Samurai." My companion found it intensely interesting yet not particularly moving. It moved me, but even without that extra emotion, this one is definitely worth a look--if only for the scene in which the hero and his love finally confront their feelings for each other. Hiroyuki Sanada, in the title role, gives a performance of quiet intensity: serious, sensitive, intelligent and--most important--completely believable as a fighting samurai (which is understandable if, as member "autarch" points out, he began his career as an action star). "Twilight Samurai" is yet another example of a movie nominated for Best Foreign Film that ought to have reached a far wider audience. |
| Intense performance by Sanada
by autarch
November 26, 2004 - 1:38 AM PST
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7 out of 7 members found this review helpful
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Hiroyuki Sanada started off his career as an action star and teen idol, but he seems to have aged into an incredibly good actor. The best scenes in this movie all revolve around his conversations and interactions with other people, particularly when talks about his children.
Don't rent this film expect a samurai action film, because it's really a thoughtful film about people. Rent it to watch Sanada's wonderful performance. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 8.26)
156 Votes
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