Samurai Fiction

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Audience Member One of my favorite Japanese movies, that I come back to occasionally. Fun, and with that trademark Japanese take on 'cool'. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Samurai Fiction (1998) Along the same lines as Pulp Fiction, featuring many different characters with their own agendas. Most of this movie is in black and white with some scenes in color. As is typical for many Japanese movies, there's comedy, drama, romance, and some adventure. A young, talented samurai, Rannosuke Kazamaturi (Tomoyasu Hotei) is given the boring duty of guarding a samurai sword that was a prized gift from the famous shogun Torenaga. Rannosuke was found unsheathing the sword and was accused of trying to steal it. Defending himself, he killed a high ranking official and took off with the sword. Heishiro Inukai (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) is a noble samurai and the son of a loyal retainer. He sets out to find Rannosuke and return the clan's prized treasure. In the attempt, one of his childhood friends is killed by Rannosuke and Heishiro is wounded. An equally skilled ronen Hanbei Mizoguchi (Morio Kazama) was able to save Hieshiro from Rannosuke's final death strike. Hanbei and his lovely adopted daughter Koharu Mizoguchi (Tamaki Ogawa) nurse Hieshiro back to health and try to persuade him to not try to fight Rannosuke again. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Extremely stylish though sadly to inert in narrative to recommend. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member I found the juxtapositional nature of this film to be quite endearing. Filmed primarily in black-and-white, scored with a modern soundtrack, loaded with a cast of quirky characters, and set in some beautifully-shot scenery, this movie oozes charm. I purposely watch it only once every 4+ years, so that it remains relatively fresh to me upon each viewing. I adore everything about this film, but not in the way that I love Fight Club, which I watch probably twice a year. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member A mellow chanbara with bits of humor. The grayscale is a nice touch, and gives it a 50's feel. Great music. The few times colors is shown, it has quite an effect. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The way Samurai Fiction seamlessly blends classic chanbara qualities and contemporary cinema is truly remarkable. The result is an homage/parody that pays tribute to classic samurai cinema in an entertaining manner yet still has its own identity and its own unique feel. The most commendable of which is the strange, yet extremely effective humor. There is also the delicious visual style and the equally delectable and entertaining soundtrack. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Samurai Fiction

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