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Twilight Samurai on DVD (2004)

Twilight Samurai cover art
Average rating: (75%)
1112291020511
3.5
 
Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada | Rie Miyazawa | Nenji Kobayashi | Ren Osugi | Mitsuru Fukikoshi | Min Tanaka | Keiko Kishi | Tetsuro Tanba
Director: Yoji Yamada
Studio: TARTAN VIDEO
Run time: 125 mins
Certificate: 12
User collections: Best to rent according to Bosco's films: http://citizenbosco.blogspot.com/ | Mixed favourites | Films to watch with teenage boys | Samurai Films | Samurai Cinema | Crash Course in Japanese Cinema | ecletic mix | The best 21st century foreign films nobody's seen because they're all too busy watching Amelie and City of God | cool films from around the world
Genres: Drama | World Cinema
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Released: 01/12/2004

Brief synopsis of Twilight Samurai

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 after work instead of going out with his colleagues. Seibei's wife has recently died, so he is raising his two daughters alone, as well as caring for his ageing mother. His well-connected uncle believes he should agree to an arranged marriage so he can be more manly, but Seibei is dedicated to living the life he's chosen. But when his married childhood friend, Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa), wants a divorce from her abusive husband (Ren Osugi), Seibei defends her honour and defeats the sword-wielding man with a piece of wood. When Seibei's clan learns of his victory, the leaders command him to kill Zenmon Yogo (Min Tanaka), something that goes against everything he believes in. Based on the stories of Shuuehei Fujisawa and set during the Meiji Restoration of 19th-century Japan, THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI, which was nominated for a 2004 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is a special kind of movie, loaded with heart and humanity, a very different samurai film that breaks movingly from the traditions of the genre.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

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.

Rating of 2 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

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.

Uncut

"...Graceful, refrained... excellent historical filmmaking..."

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 starsA great, great film.

Professor Cornelius from London , 21/04/2005

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.

  15 out of 15 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsA touch of Kurosawa

A customer from London, England , 21/12/2004

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 10 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsPerfect

joey from Cambridgeshire , 18/02/2005

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.

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsSamurai Sleeper

Lord Pie from Canterbury, England , 06/11/2004

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.

  8 out of 10 people found this review helpful
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