Masaki Kobayashi (1916–1996)

A samurai hoping for a hand-out is forced to commit suicide.

3/4 (Good).

It's clearly a major influence for Samurai Jack. The middle of the movie is painfully slow, and the ending is (deliberately) unsatisfying, but the great scenes are too great to give the movie less than a 3/4.

94/1500
exotic Japanese style production

once voted by Japanese critics their country's all-time best film, Harakiri is a film reflecting situational ethics, in which the better you know a man the more deeply you understand his motives. Kobayashi unfolds the grim, cynical tale in layers, climaxing in a brilliant, beautiful swordfight on a wind-swept plain. Whilst there is plenty of swordplay involved, it's the war of words and ideals that really captures the imagination here. The film has a steady, hypnotic momentum; the director show more wrings as much drama out of facial twitches as he does out of sword fights. He’s helped immensely by Nakadai’s molten performance and Toru Takemitsu’s spare, disquieting music. This is a stunning sombre tragedy [from Yasuhiko Takiguchi's novel] giving off deep rage against militarism, political systems and beliefs that do not allow for a rational human outlook or future change. show less

Ferocious action saga about an old samurai (Mifune) taking a stand against his lord's cruelty and injustice. Kobayashi's films frequently puncture the legend of the ever-obedient samurai, scrutinising the value of such a rigid feudal system without completely dispensing with the adrenaline-soaked fun of a good old-fashioned sword-fight. But Samurai Rebellion can be seen as a statement against the conformity that remained central in Japanese life long after this period. This is a moving, show more powerful drama, amazing: stirring, subversive and, beneath surfaces, sneakily lyrical. It reflects the social tumult of its time by depicting a defiant swordsman amidst totalitarian excess. The film's escalation of tension is almost unbearable. show less