w & d: Yoji Yamada
s: Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu
I've mentioned this film a few times before. Just picked up the DVD and viewed it with the missus, and man, it had the same effect on me as before, eyes wet with joy. My wife also loved it.
Set in mid 19th century Japan rife with social turmoil. The samurai are being trained in western advances in warfare, (cannons, rifles, western style running) often with comical results. Elders, frowning upon such compromises on their closely held traditions, have further difficulties with the long lasting social order, in which cracks begin to appear.
This wonderful love story, told with great heart and well timed humour, is about a samurai finding his way through life in a caste system that's beginning to break down.
Just as in Yoji Yamada's previous film, Twilight Samurai (which is also brilliant), the violence is kept to a realistic minimum. There are very little action is both these films, and this is part of the reason they surpass all other samurai/martial arts films besides Akira Kurosawa's work.
Tonight, my second viewing has reiterated what I originally felt: best film of 2005 (followed closely by "Little Fish")
edit: imdb link
s: Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu
I've mentioned this film a few times before. Just picked up the DVD and viewed it with the missus, and man, it had the same effect on me as before, eyes wet with joy. My wife also loved it.
Set in mid 19th century Japan rife with social turmoil. The samurai are being trained in western advances in warfare, (cannons, rifles, western style running) often with comical results. Elders, frowning upon such compromises on their closely held traditions, have further difficulties with the long lasting social order, in which cracks begin to appear.
This wonderful love story, told with great heart and well timed humour, is about a samurai finding his way through life in a caste system that's beginning to break down.
Just as in Yoji Yamada's previous film, Twilight Samurai (which is also brilliant), the violence is kept to a realistic minimum. There are very little action is both these films, and this is part of the reason they surpass all other samurai/martial arts films besides Akira Kurosawa's work.
Tonight, my second viewing has reiterated what I originally felt: best film of 2005 (followed closely by "Little Fish")
edit: imdb link
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