Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (Takashi Miike)

[EyesWideOpen]

imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1728196/)

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc261/gothamcentral79/hara-kiri-death-of-a-samurai-poster.jpg

[EyesWideOpen]

This is on VOD for anyone interested. Amazon instant video has it for $5.99 (http://www.amazon.com/Hara-Kiri-Death-of-a-Samurai/dp/B008M34GF2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1342565011&sr=8-6&keywords=harakiri+death+of+a+s amurai).

[Rowland]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this. I've been pleasantly surprised by the increasingly positive reception this has been receiving, since I remember it being largely dismissed back at Cannes last year.

[Irish]

This was extraordinary. Really plays like something out of O.Henry meets your typical Greek tragedy, but very Japanese. I liked the way it celebrated bushido but then criticized the social structures that emanated from it. Great movie.

Two downsides:

- It might require some viewers to wiki up a short lesson on Japanese history and culture to understand everything that's going on. The significance of topnots and katanas, as well as the structure of the Tokugawa Shogunate, might be lost without it.

- The second act is almost completely telegraphed early on in dialogue. One one hand, it's just painful to watch, as Miike really milks dramatic irony here for all it's worth. But on the other, it's also more tedious because you know exactly what's going to happen and the movie takes its time showing it to you.