The Twilight Samurai

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J L Jul 14 I LOVE this movie. From director Yoji Yamada, who made a bunch of comedy films all his life and then directed three amazingly touching tender and 'slice of life' classical Japanese period films in 2002 to 2006 ~20 years ago (The Twilight Samurai (2002)The Hidden Blade (2004)Love and Honor (2006)). I stumbled upon this film after going through Hiroyuki Sanada's filmography list (from Hollywood Avengers Endgame, Westworld, Wolverine, John Wick, Sunshine, Rush Hour 3, King Lear), and this film (along with The Hidden Blade) is so tender and so genuine and realistic in it's cinematography and direction. It's such an under-rated piece of Asian / Japanese cinema. I watch it again and again as it's so relaxing, peaceful, bittersweet and melancholic. The drama is upfront but also hidden, nothing is flashy but it's beautiful. It all seems natural, so smooth and beautiful and *elegant* in it's presentation and so at *peace* with itself and the world. It's such a refreshing piece to the angst-driven, "let's pump everything to 120%", hyper-octane and hyper-saturated feeling of modern cinema. See more Dani G Mar 18 Very good samurai drama with (almost) nothing of swords nor fighting See more Jeremiah C @Jeremiah_Cobra Jan 9 Excellent story telling; superb cinematography; compelling protagonist. It is not as strong plot-wise as The Hidden Blade, but there is so much to love about this work. Also, it features a young Sanada Hiroyuki before Shogun fame. See more Ian G @Kilrymont 10/16/2023 I found this film on, I think? - Netflix UK several years ago, and was transfixed by this truly excellent film depicting life in rural Japan in the dying times of the old Bushido-driven society, when peasants could starve in hard winters and Samurai were often enough poverty stricken themselves. This is a very sensitively directed film with a very effective cast, all of whom played their various parts to perfection. Initially I was somewhat put off by its being a Japanese language film, making it needful to fish out the subtitle system, something I've never liked. But the early scenes in this so charmed me that I did just that and was transfixed throughout the story's deep involvement with its core family, and its st ruffles to survive in those days around the late eighteen hundreds - that's a guess, from memory. After seeing it through despite those subtitkes I hunted down a DVD copy as I knew I'd want to watch it again, it's that good a film. If you enjoy people-centred films with real characters struggling to get through trying situations, I'd urge you to see this very, very excellent film. I'm not one for writing gushing praises for movies unless it's something of exceptional class, but in this case I do urge you to try to view it somehow, even to buy a used dvd on spec. I doubt you'll be disappointed.. See more Tony S 07/12/2023 Loyalty and love. Very meditative. See more acsdoug D @acsdoug 06/08/2023 As much as I love Japanese cinema I've never been a fan of the samurai genre. This one is different. It's more of a portrait of a man struggling to support his family and just happens to be a samurai and it's very well done. Add this one to the handful of samurai movies I like. See more Read all reviews

The Twilight Samurai

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