Tasogare Seibei (2002)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Yôji Yamada

Writers:

Shûhei Fujisawa (novels)
Yôji Yamada (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 November 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A 19th-century samurai tries to protect a battered wife.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Widower | Duel | Sheath | Seppuku

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 37 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Seibei Iguchi
Rie Miyazawa	...	Tomoe Iinuma
Nenji Kobayashi	...	Choubei Kusaka
Ren Osugi	...	Toyotarou Kouda
Mitsuru Fukikoshi	...	Michinojo Iinuma
Kanako Fukaura
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Naota
Miki Itô	...	Kayano Iguchi
Erina Hashiguchi	...	Ito Iguchi
Reiko Kusamura	...	Iguchi's Mother
Setsuko Tanaka
Kii Mizuno
Yuuki Natsusaka
Astushi Maeda
Tsukasa Sugawara

Also Known As:

The Twilight Samurai (UK)

Runtime:

Germany:129 min | USA:129 min | Argentina:129 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Hakuhodo

Quotes:

Zenemon Yogo: So they sent you...
Seibei Iguchi: Zenemon Yogo, by order of the clan, I come for your life. Draw your sword, please.
Zenemon Yogo: [Intoxicated] Have a drink? I know you're all keyed up, but I'm going to run.
Seibei Iguchi: Run?
Zenemon Yogo: Yep. I want you to let me get away. If you please.
Seibei Iguchi: I didn't expect that fromt he clan's best one-sword man. My orders are to kill you. I can't let you escape.
Zenemon Yogo: Don't be so impatient, you can kill me at anytime. I'd like to talk to you. Have a seat. It's a nice day.

Movie Connections:

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

A beautiful, lyrical samurai movie

I approached director Yoji Yamada's period film anticipating the usual brew of flashing blades, unfathomable codes of honour and majestic arterial sprays but found instead a gently melancholic and beautifully played story of unspoken love and ethical struggle.

Seibei (a mesmerising less-is-more turn from Hiroyuki Sanada) is a low-ranking widowed samurai with a senile mother and two daughters, working in the castle's stores and taking in piecework to get by.

Grief at his wife's death has led him to turn his back on violence but he is confronted with it nonetheless, firstly as a result of the return of a childhood friend for whom he has strong feelings and who is fleeing her abusive marriage and, finally, when the politics of the day overtake his clan and he is ordered to carry out an assassination.

Seibei's struggle is not for outward respect but to find integrity within a social order over which he has no influence, making the bursts of violence all the more jarring.

Yamada's film is rightly compared to Kurosawa's work and its thoughtful, lyrical tone and themes resonate powerfully.