Twilight Samurai
2004
Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Ujio in Edward Zwick's Hollywood epic THE LAST SAMURAI, stars in a different kind of samurai film in Yoji Yamada's poignant drama THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI. Sanada plays the title character (Seibei Iguchi), who gets his nickname because he is a lowly worker who chooses to go home to his family every night .. Read more
| Starring | Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi |
|---|---|
| Director | Yoji Yamada |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Director Yoji Yamada is known in Japan for his domestic melodramas and for this much-lauded film, his first period drama, he adds a touch of family circumstance to ratchet up the tension. There is a class-conscious desperation about the samurai hero, Hiroyuki Sanada, which makes the setting of the 19th century even more credible. Sanada holds a lowly position within his clan, and he's nicknamed Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei) because he doesn't join them for after-work drinks, but heads home to look after his motherless daughters and their elderly grandmother. Then Rie Miyazawa, his childhood sweetheart, begins to visit their home, brightening up their poverty-stricken existence. But when her brutish husband comes looking for her, Sanada is forced to defend her honour. Fulfilling the humanist tradition of many Japanese masters, Yamada's film looks into the hearts of the men wielding the lethal weapons, and so achieves an inspirational quality.
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Intriguing drama of the downside of a samurai's life in a provincial town; its modest hero spends his time as a minor clerk and longs to leave his ill-paid life and work the land.
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"...Graceful, refrained... excellent historical filmmaking..."
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
View all -
26 out of 26 people found this review helpful
A great, great film.
This is not just an enchanting film but a classic, and richly deserved its 2004 oscar nomination as best foreign movie. But leave your preconceptions behind for this.
There are no casts of thousands, no unrealistic sword fights, not even much gore. Instead what you get is a round's eye view of a low-ranked samurai widower struggling to look after his two young daughters and senile mother, working what looks suspiciously like a 9 to 5 job tallying grain supply in the local castle, while his children go to
school and learn Confucian sutras.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Ujio in the far more bombastic last samurai) takes the central role and brings a wonderful subtlety to the character, and when
the film slowly reaches its climatic fight scenes (there are two, and
they are riveting) it is impossible not to cheer the character on. The love interest is also delicately handled and the ending is wise and gentle.
Along the way there are vivid, but understated vignettes of normal
village life just before Japan entered the modern era. Simple things are
lyrically filmed, such as a peasant's festival, the cooking of food and
gathering of wood, or some sloppy target practice. The main character,
sensitive and poetic, has no desire to kill or be killed, and takes delight instead in watching his daughters grow up.
But the scene that stays most in the memory is the final sword fight, and you need to pay close attention to what happens at the very beginning of the fight to make sense of it.
A great, great film. -
10 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Perfect
Shows wonderfully the true way the Samurai class system worked.
A poor Samurai of lower income tries to live and work respectively after the death of his wife leaves him in debt.
Action, love and drama all wraped into one brilliant movie. A Samurai movie with a heart.
A must see for Japanese Samurai movie fans. -
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful
A touch of Kurosawa
This is not a movie for Kill Bill fans. Rather it is in the mould of Kurosawa at his best. Hiroyuki Sanada gives a sensitive portrayal of a widowed samurai working in a lowly position in his clan's castle and trying to raise his children after the early death of his wife. His family mean he must go home when his colleagues go socialising and in doing so he misses advancement. However a reunion with a childhood friend brings the chance of new happiness. This is threatened though when he has to step in to save a friend in a duel and in doing so reveals his mastery of the short-sword style bringing unsought for attention from his clan.
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Most recent members' reviews (2)
View all -
9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Samurai Sleeper
A well told and filmed story of an unconventional samurai--Twilight Seibo. If you're expecting Tom Cruise to meditate his Dianetics way through corpses, then you'll be disappointed.
Twilight Samurai recalls the insightful and complete filmmaking of Kurosawa but in a very different way. The epic panorama is reduced, but the detail and meaningful correspondences in these details is magnificent. All this is brought together with a unique passion that comes through in the story. -
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Good but disappointing
Although I enjoyed this film, I can say I was disappointed as I was expecting something different.
The film tells the story of junior samurai Seibel (Hiroyuki Sanada) who's wife dies, leaving him to care for his two young children and senile mother whilst holding down a job. As the story evolves, Seibel is reunited with a former child sweetheart who brings life to the family until the issue of marriage is brought up and Seibel is forced to make a decision. At the same time, Seibel's clan require him carry out a dangerous task that could prove devastating to his family and relationship.
The film is certainly not what I was expecting - lacking the usual dramatic fight scenes you would expect from the film's title. It tries to portray the mundane life that many samurai lived at the time and the problems faced in feudal Japanese society. Although Sanada's performance is thoughtful and controlled, the film bos along at a fairly slow pace and although it is engaging, it didn't quite meet my expectations.
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26 out of 26 people found this review helpful
A great, great film.
This is not just an enchanting film but a classic, and richly deserved its 2004 oscar nomination as best foreign movie. But leave your preconceptions behind for this.
There are no casts of thousands, no unrealistic sword fights, not even much gore. Instead what you get is a round's eye view of a low-ranked samurai widower struggling to look after his two young daughters and senile mother, working what looks suspiciously like a 9 to 5 job tallying grain supply in the local castle, while his children go to
school and learn Confucian sutras.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Ujio in the far more bombastic last samurai) takes the central role and brings a wonderful subtlety to the character, and when
the film slowly reaches its climatic fight scenes (there are two, and
they are riveting) it is impossible not to cheer the character on. The love interest is also delicately handled and the ending is wise and gentle.
Along the way there are vivid, but understated vignettes of normal
village life just before Japan entered the modern era. Simple things are
lyrically filmed, such as a peasant's festival, the cooking of food and
gathering of wood, or some sloppy target practice. The main character,
sensitive and poetic, has no desire to kill or be killed, and takes delight instead in watching his daughters grow up.
But the scene that stays most in the memory is the final sword fight, and you need to pay close attention to what happens at the very beginning of the fight to make sense of it.
A great, great film. -
10 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Perfect
Shows wonderfully the true way the Samurai class system worked.
A poor Samurai of lower income tries to live and work respectively after the death of his wife leaves him in debt.
Action, love and drama all wraped into one brilliant movie. A Samurai movie with a heart.
A must see for Japanese Samurai movie fans. -
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful
A touch of Kurosawa
This is not a movie for Kill Bill fans. Rather it is in the mould of Kurosawa at his best. Hiroyuki Sanada gives a sensitive portrayal of a widowed samurai working in a lowly position in his clan's castle and trying to raise his children after the early death of his wife. His family mean he must go home when his colleagues go socialising and in doing so he misses advancement. However a reunion with a childhood friend brings the chance of new happiness. This is threatened though when he has to step in to save a friend in a duel and in doing so reveals his mastery of the short-sword style bringing unsought for attention from his clan.
-
9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Samurai Sleeper
A well told and filmed story of an unconventional samurai--Twilight Seibo. If you're expecting Tom Cruise to meditate his Dianetics way through corpses, then you'll be disappointed.
Twilight Samurai recalls the insightful and complete filmmaking of Kurosawa but in a very different way. The epic panorama is reduced, but the detail and meaningful correspondences in these details is magnificent. All this is brought together with a unique passion that comes through in the story. -
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Ken Loach meets Merchant Ivory in Japan
You have all the formalities of a typical Samurai movie (ie obediance to the clan and knowing their place within it) but with a more down to earth look at some one on the lower rungs who is making the best of the cards life has dealt him. His wife has died leaving him with 2 young daughters, a senile mother, massive debts, the scorn of his colleagues and a lack of time to pay attention to his appearance and cleanliness. If you can get into the rythm of the film it is engrossing but could still have lost about 20 minutes and some of the soundtrack is too modern for the setting.
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6 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Samurai with sword that never came out of the sheath!
If you expect an action samurai movie, forget it! you will be disappointed like I did!.. this was not what I was looking for.. Its telling a story in japanese!
;-).. -
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Excellent Excellent Excellent
What a brilliant film. I wanted to rate this a 6 but when I sat back and thought about it, there is nothing about the film that I would like to see done differently.
With the right amount of drama, action and romance this is a very enjoyable experience which will bring a smile to your face at the end. -
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Very Fine!
This is a tale set in medieval Japan depicting lots of unrest in the social structure and the hardship of life as a low ranking samurai. It is full of the detail and the quality of everyday life and also has a thread of romance and of individual heroism.
Sympathetic characters make this a very enjoyable film. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Rent This ....
I am just getting into foreign cinema and this was recommended to me. It's a nice japanese family/samurai story and well worth watching.
the Mrs enjoyed it and she "... doesn't do subtitles " :-)
Cinematography is first class as is the history lesson within. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
One of the most enjoyable Japanese films for years.
Twilight Samurai follows the tale of a low ranking retainer forced to care for an elderly mother and look after his family whilst also keeping up his duties as a low ranking Samurai. Burning the candle at both ends he has no time to look after himself and is regarded as a bit of a fool by his collegues until his past catches up with him and forces him to prove that he was once a great warrior. Don't expect hundreds of fight scenes, there are only two in the entire movie, what you do have is a very well thought out tale of a Samurai down on his luck but also a man of incredible fortitude who accepts his position in the world and makes the best of it. It's a fantastic film.
Critics' reviews (5)
-
Director Yoji Yamada is known in Japan for his domestic melodramas and for this much-lauded film, his first period drama, he adds a touch of family circumstance to ratchet up the tension. There is a class-conscious desperation about the samurai hero, Hiroyuki Sanada, which makes the setting of the 19th century even more credible. Sanada holds a lowly position within his clan, and he's nicknamed Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei) because he doesn't join them for after-work drinks, but heads home to look after his motherless daughters and their elderly grandmother. Then Rie Miyazawa, his childhood sweetheart, begins to visit their home, brightening up their poverty-stricken existence. But when her brutish husband comes looking for her, Sanada is forced to defend her honour. Fulfilling the humanist tradition of many Japanese masters, Yamada's film looks into the hearts of the men wielding the lethal weapons, and so achieves an inspirational quality.
-
Intriguing drama of the downside of a samurai's life in a provincial town; its modest hero spends his time as a minor clerk and longs to leave his ill-paid life and work the land.
-
"...Graceful, refrained... excellent historical filmmaking..."
-
"...Marvellously assured..."
-
"...Excellent..."
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Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Ujio in Edward Zwick's Hollywood epic THE LAST SAMURAI, stars in a different kind of samurai film in Yoji Yamada's poignant drama THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI. Sanada plays the ... -
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