The Twilight Samurai [2004]

Customer Reviews:

A magnificent and very confucian story - and a great movie!.......2008-01-13

This is a great movie, well desserving five stars. This story of a poor samurai, Seibei Iguchi, who struggles valiantly to take care of his sick wife, senile mother and two little daughters (and one devoted although not very clean servant), is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Because he doesn't laugh (or speak for that matter) a lot and never has time (or money) to drink with his fellow samurai, Iguchi earns finally the nick name "Twilight Samurai". A simple, calm, honest and gentle man, Iguchi never was very ambitious - he has however much more steel (and talent) in him than anybody expects... As you will see in the movie, the fate will accumulate more and more hardships on his way, until one day he finally has the possibility to greatly improve his material situation and his standing in the clan... but for a price which he is not ready to pay. No more details here.
As it is strongly hinted at the very beginning of this movie, to understand it fully, we should consider some of the teachings by Confucius. There are two confucianisms - the original one, created by Confucius in V century BC and the official one (greatly stressing the obligation of blind obedience to the superiors), which was developped by court appointed officials under the emperor Han Wudi in II century BC. Here the original teachings are the main point of the movie. Confucius insisted a lot on the acceptance of one's situation and of his place in the society and encouraged to obey and respect the superiors - but on another hand he also called every person to cultivate the virtue, and precised that the higher is one's station in life, the greater should be his virtue. Obedience to superiors and personal virtue HAVE to collide occasionally and in this movie they do... even very much so. Confucius knew better than to try to give a ready procedure how to solve those conflicts - instead he recommanded a lot of common sense, patience and reflexion. He knew that there is no good solution in such a situation, but one can limit the damage... the best he can. And this problem is precisely described in this movie. And it is described with a breathtaking perfection!
This is a long and slow movie, so if you lack patience, you will not like it. If you like martial arts displays, you will be disappointed too, because even if there are some (not much), this is REALLY not the point of this movie. However if you like great cinema and especially if you like great Japanese cinema, this is what you need to see!
At least one of the female reviewers claimed that this is the kind of man, that every man should be, an example to everybody... but I believe she somehow missed one moment in the movie, during the conversation between Iguchi and Zenemon Yogo (this is the most important moment in the movie - do NOT miss it!). During this conversation, and especially at the end, you will see, that Iguchi is not as kind, simple and innocent you would believe... there is a part of the snake in this angel and there is some Dark Side in his Force... You will see it by yourself.
I loved this movie very much and I recommend it with all my heart.

beautiful.......2008-01-07

I have to say i am a new convert to films with subtitles.

I stumbled on this film a while ago when it was on TV & struggled to find a copy. Now i have one i am really pleased to watch this film again. Not only is the scenary stunning but the acting is fantastic. i am stunned at how good this film actually is.

The story line is so simple & unasuming that you just cant help but be drawn in to this lavish peice of film.

In short i love this film & i think it's a story i could sit through again & again.
I'm not a massive movie fan. I'm more a book reader so it's rare i rave about films....but if you have a love for beautiful visuals & stories without world saving explosions then give this film a go. I doubt you'll be dissappointed.

Thanx for reading my review. Have a good day

A Masterpiece.......2007-12-23

This is a film about change. Our Twilight Samurai lived in a period of great change in Japan and in ordinary people's everyday lives. For example the great long sword is replaced by the short sword, is replaced by rifles etc. The idea of unswerving allegiance is replaced by uncertainty and questioning. The concept of good service resulting in just rewards has gone by the board.
Our hero is not even aware of these changes because he is solely concerned with the one important and immutable thing. To love and provide for his family, and to retain his own personal integrity.
What is his reward? You must judge for yourselves.

Anti-hero.......2007-10-27

Told from his grown-up daughter, Kayano's, perspective, "The Twilight Samurai" comes out as an affectionate and nostalgic recollection of a beloved father rather than a famous fighter. But it also questions the appearance of honour and dignity defined by tradition as opposed to the actual possession of such virtues. Iguchi Seibei's outstanding qualities hardly made for an ideal samurai -- thoughtful, quiet, kind, self-effacing, treating females as equals, and with no aspirations to heroism or personal glory, he would have much preferred to be a farmer despite his expert sword-handling.

The twilight of the title could refer to several things: Seibei's derisory nickname, as given by his co-workers who noted his lack of enthusiasm for joining in their evening jaunts; the fading of the age of the samurai as the age of the gun ascended; the appointed time for Seibei to execute the so-called clan traitor, Yogo; or the short marriage Seibei was to have with the love of his life.

The film hardly registers on the action sequences scale and fans of martial arts might find this a bit sparse. It concentrates instead on Seibei's and the other characters' inner workings in an age when change was redefining traditional roles. Hardly a conventional thinker to start with, Seibei's recent bereavement after an unhappy marriage seems to almost provide him with the necessary fortitude to stand up to the pressure from his peers and the family patriarch to conform to expectations. Iinuma's actions to help his sister escape her unhappy marriage rather contradict the samurai -- and dare I say Oriental -- stereotype of the woman as a second-class citizen who submits to her husband once she is married rather than rely on her family. Tomoe's recent divorce from an abusive husband and her ambiguous position as a single woman in her brother's household seems to give her the freedom to renew her acquaintance with her old friend, Seibei, rather than limiting her to shamed seclusion. They all -- quietly, politely, but determinedly -- defy traditional expectations. Yogo, whom the ascendant Lord of the Watch brands a traitor, refuses to commit suicide because, in his view, he was only following his lord's orders and shouldn't be punished just because the opposing side "won."

Despite his efforts to avoid it, Seibei finds himself fighting -- first, to defend the honour of his friend, Iinuma, and Iinuma's sister, Tomoe; then under the guise of clan orders from a leader jockeying for position within the clan; and finally again for his clan, which unfortunately picks the wrong side in a power struggle between shoguns and a returned emperor. The final fight sequence between Seibei and Yogo might make up for the comparative lack of martial arts action. Initially, the darkness of the sequence annoyed me as I could hardly see what Seibei and Yogo were doing, but the director rather brutally (and effectively) makes up for this visual obscurity with the sound effects: the crunch of bones as Yogo eats his daughter's ashes leading up to the fight is creepy, and the trickling sound which I eventually realized was the sound of a serious wound bleeding onto the wooden floor sent shivers up my spine.

Seibei has his happy ending and wins Tomoe, but even then his happiness is bittersweet. His daughter relates simply that he only has three years before he is shot fighting for the clan. Kayano concludes that, though his peers considered him unlucky, she thought the opposite. I tend to agree.

The Daily Life of a Samurai.......2007-09-07

A beautifully shot film that concentrates on the everyday life of Seibei Iguchi his three daughters and his senile mother. There are not too many fight scenes, but they make an impact, underscoring what the director is meaning to show us. Iguchi gets his nick name from rushing home in the evenings to look after his mother.

His impoverished but content life as an administrator is suddenly turn apart when circumstances conspire against him, and he is ordered to kill a samurai retainer by the head of the clan.

The life of Iguchi is presented as that of the innocent, yet knowing, fool, a kind of Parcival figure in search of deeper fulfilment while trapped in duty. And he does find it when he is re-united with Tomoe in marriage after the fight with the retainer, only to dies 3 years later.

The sparsity of fights scenes only serves to make the last fight of greater impact to the audience. This is a very entertaining and deeply moving film.

Twilight Samurai [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

Twighlight Samurai - a moving film for the soul

Twilight Samurai [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada , Rie Miyazawa , Nenji Kobayashi , Ren Osugi , and Mitsuru Fukikoshi
Director: Yôji Yamada
Manufacturer: Empire Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Action & Adventure | Action & Adventure | Categories | DVD | Video

Martial Arts | Action & Adventure | Categories | DVD | Video

Romantic | Action & Adventure | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00065GX0K
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Customer Reviews:

Twighlight Samurai - a moving film for the soul.......2005-01-04

This movie touched my heart and I'm sure I will watch it over and over again for many years to come. Historically, I was intersted to learn about this particular time in Japan and I felt that the Twighlight Samurai gave an excellent picture of how things were. The main character was beautifully played by Hiroyuki Sanada, whose portrayal of a kind and gentle man yet strong man who loved his daughters and was happy to have a simple life but who's life ended up anything but simple, moved me to tears. I loved it and would recommend this to anyone interested in Japanese history and the ways of the Samurai and to anyone interested in watching a warm, moving and beautiful love story.

UK DVD:

UK DVD List

UK DVD