Movielogr

Rating: 8 stars

All movies seen on 02/01/2011

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Harakiri (1962)

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Drama

Most recently watched by sleestakk

Overview

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Rated NR | Length 135 minutes

Actors

Tatsuya Nakadai | Akira Ishihama | Shima Iwashita | Tetsurō Tamba | Masao Mishima | Ichirô Nakatani | Kei Satō | Yoshio Inaba | Hisashi Igawa | Tôru Takeuchi | Yoshirô Aoki | Tatsuo Matsumura | Akiji Kobayashi | Kôichi Hayashi | Ryûtarô Gomi | Jo Azumi | Nakajirô Tomita | Shichisaburo Amatsu | Kenzô Tanaka | Shin Nakahara | Tsuneo Ikeda | Minoru Miyagi | Takaaki Kadota | Ichiro Yamamoto | Gen Takasugi | Satoshi Nishida | Tetsuro Komiyama | Shûichirô Narita | Noboru Kasuga | Shinpachi Kura | Kenji Hayashi | Shôtarô Hayashi | Shimezo Kataoka | Bunya Ozawa | Konosuke Takemoto | Rentarô Mikuni

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

My first movie of February was Harakiri, a classic anti-samurai movie from Masaki Kobayashi. This was the Criterion Collection DVD.

Slowly and meticulously paced, it requires your complete attention as the story of a ronin (masterless samurai) who shows up at the house of a feudal lord asking to be allowed to commit ritual suicide (hara-kiri) in his courtyard plays out over two hours.

Harakiri is a movie of rebellion against the establishment and neatly skewers the samurai code, and, by extension, modern Japan and it’s rigid social and societal codes and rules.

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