Released 2002
Stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa,Nenji Kobayashi, Min Tanaka, Ren Osugi
Directed by Yoji Yamada

The picture offers not a requiem for a lost era but regret that it didn't end sooner for born-again pacifist Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada), an impoverished widower in the lower caste of the samurai class in the waning days of the feudal Edo period. An economic hierarchy among samurai is an intriguing concept on its own, but the beauty of "Twilight Samurai,'' directed and co- written by Yoji Yamada, lies in its timeless questions about the qualities that measure a man.

Summary by Carla Meyer

I didn't remember adding this film to my www.netflix.com queue since I added it so long ago, but I'm sure glad I did--I think it's one of the best films of 2002. It won twelve awards at the Japanese Oscars and was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the American Oscars, losing to the pleasant The Barbarian Invasions. It's a quiet, lovely film that explores many themes about Japanese culture, both past and present. I wish it didn't have the word samurai in the title, because it's really an anti-samurai movie. Not in the sense that it's opposed to the samurai, but in the sense that it's the opposite of any samurai movie we've seen. It shows a different side to the samurai life, and we see they're not all fighters. Many are bureaucrats and hold various stations, such as accounting, that are anything but glorious. They have home lives just like everyone else, and this movie is about those aspects. It's about how they gave their loyalty and lives to their leaders only to find, sometimes, they were expendable, or they had been loyal to the wrong people. Yamada wanted to make a parallel to modern workers who do the same for their companies today only to be laid off after a management shakeup or an economic downturn. At least Japanese workers don't have to commit hari-kari any longer...

I thought it was funny that everyone empathized with Seibei over how difficult his life must be as a widower with two little girls, a senile mother, a tiny salary, and a lot of debt, but he usually just stared blankly at them. He knew his life was difficult, but he enjoyed caring for his girls and doing his chores. He was happy and would quit his life as a samurai if he could afford to, but in the end he was ordered to fulfill his duty. The final confrontation was brilliant and so different than what you normally see in a samurai movie. It started with Yogo completely duping Seibei into letting his guard down as he drew on Seibei's sympathies and probed him for weaknesses. Eventually, Seibei became so relaxed he told Yogo he had sold his long sword and was carrying one made of bamboo. Yogo used this information to pounce on Seibei, but he should have probed a little longer. If he had done so, he may have found out why the clan had chosen Seibei for this mission. This fight is not only unusual for their conversation but for the action. The fighters breathe heavily, stumble around in the dark, and slash each other until one finally bleeds to death. It's not pretty, and it's not balletic. It shows how killing someone with a blade is not glorious; it's a nasty business.

I was enthralled by this entire movie. I guess it struck a cord with me because everything was so understated, like the unspoken affection between Iguchi and Tomoe. Then there are the tender scenes between Seibei and his daughters that aren't played for melodrama or to be cutesy. They're just quiet scenes where we watch a tired father do his best and enjoy it without saying a word. --Bill Alward, October 3, 2005