Directed by: Yôji Yamada
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Man… have they made a bad samurai movie? Like, REAL samurai movie, none of this Samurai Cop or Kill Bill shit. A movie about actual samurai that was a drama. Because I’ve only seen good ones. Including this. This is a good one. One being movie. In this case.
A samurai goes to a village to teach the farmer/soldiers how to use the new rifles that are all the rage in warfare right now. He falls in love with a girl, but then his friend samurai does some bad samurai things like slight the emperor by not attending a party of his and then holding a family for ransom. Our hero samurai must use his secret sword technique ‘Hidden Blade’ to defeat his friend… but the secret of his technique is that it doesn’t work at all in real combat!
It’s actually a lot better than I’m trying to describe it for the sake of what meager comedy I can squeeze out of this review. It’s got neat samurai stuff, only one fight in the whole thing and it’s at the end (because it’s a huge part of the main character that he’s never been in an actual fight). Also, the traditional Japanese romance subplot is kinda nice. It’s interesting to see the cultural differences in courting so starkly portrayed. Or… something. I’m going to bed now. No thinky good.
Films in Boxes 
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