Who would have thought that I ca appreciate a samurai film? Yamada does not write a heroic epic of the glorious deeds and the honors won in battles, but tells a story about the twilight of one culture, its corruption by worthless local powerful people and the ultimate destruction of their honor code by soulless technology.
Munezo lives far away from the capital. He is a samurai, but not a super-warrior. Instead he cares of his family and especially of their housekeeper. He has a crush on her, but she is not an appropriate choice for him, as she is from another class. This setting makes the movie far more epic and interesting than a normal action-packed samurai-movie would be, at least for me.
Munezo's sword brother Yaichiro has been involved in a conspiracy against the shogun. Munezo is ordered to catch and kill him. Munezo knows that he only has a chance, when he learns more from their old teacher. This teacher teaches Munezo a trick that works during the final duel, but the mortal blow coms from those modern guns.
Munezo learns that the chief retainer of the clan has betrayed him. Munezo kills the retainer with the technique of the "hidden blade".
His life has become empty. Together with the house maid he will start a new life on a distant island.
A samurai movies without brave warriors and almost no fighting. No wonder that the fans of the genre esteemed this movie as boring. Instead Yamada gives us an epc about the decadence of one epoch and the dawn of a new era, in which there is no more room for those traditional values. Thia is tale that could be told about many generations. The films focuses on inner drama, not on outer action. I likes it and I want to see also the two remaining movies from Yamada's samurai trilogy.
8/10
Munezo lives far away from the capital. He is a samurai, but not a super-warrior. Instead he cares of his family and especially of their housekeeper. He has a crush on her, but she is not an appropriate choice for him, as she is from another class. This setting makes the movie far more epic and interesting than a normal action-packed samurai-movie would be, at least for me.
Munezo's sword brother Yaichiro has been involved in a conspiracy against the shogun. Munezo is ordered to catch and kill him. Munezo knows that he only has a chance, when he learns more from their old teacher. This teacher teaches Munezo a trick that works during the final duel, but the mortal blow coms from those modern guns.
Munezo learns that the chief retainer of the clan has betrayed him. Munezo kills the retainer with the technique of the "hidden blade".
His life has become empty. Together with the house maid he will start a new life on a distant island.
A samurai movies without brave warriors and almost no fighting. No wonder that the fans of the genre esteemed this movie as boring. Instead Yamada gives us an epc about the decadence of one epoch and the dawn of a new era, in which there is no more room for those traditional values. Thia is tale that could be told about many generations. The films focuses on inner drama, not on outer action. I likes it and I want to see also the two remaining movies from Yamada's samurai trilogy.
8/10
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| Munezo - the disillusioned samurai |
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