Based on three short stories written by novelist
Fujisawa Syuhei, Yamada’s beautifully crafted elegy
follows a reluctant, low-ranking samurai in the fading days
of Japan’s 19th century feudal era. Rather than exciting
sword duels and fierce battles, Iguchi’s life is filled
with bookkeeping and household chores. A widower, deep in
debt with a senile mother and two daughters to care for, he
is ridiculed by his drinking, carousing fellow samurai, who
tag him “Twilight Samurai.” But when the clan
lord dies, internal conflict breaks out, and Iguchi is ordered
to kill Yogo, a master swordsman who refuses to commit hara-kiri.
Departing from “Fastest Sword in the East” fare,
this Japanese Academy Award-winning drama focuses more on
character than action, with a meditative hero evocative of
William Holden’s aging gunslinger in The Wild Bunch,
yet also resonant allegorically with the dilemmas faced by
modern-day corporate warriors. This year’s Japanese
submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (129 mins.) Print
courtesy of Empire Pictures.
Selected Filmography: Hope and Pain (88), A Distant
Cry From Spring (90), My Sons (91), A Class To Remember (93),
Fifteen (01).
SHOWTIMES: 2/13, 7pm B2 and
2/16, 7:15pm WH. |
