Thursday, April 05, 2012

Harakiri (1962)

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto
IMDB

A samurai travels to a mansion to request to commit harakiri, the honorable Japanese suicide where you disembowel yourself.  The master of the house is skeptical because a man had recently made the same request and when they agreed they found out his sword was bamboo and still made him carry it out.  Told through flashback, we find out the relation between this samurai and the other.
An interesting and intriguing unwinding tale.  The climatic fight in the mansion is excellent and the performance from the samurai is fantastic.  All around a good samurai film that is heavier on the drama than the sword fighting.  Beautifully made.


9/10

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