FanFare

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshiro 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 grace in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin's resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshiro 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. [more inside]
posted by pwnguin on Apr 14, 2024 - 3 comments

A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord. [more inside]
posted by pwnguin on Feb 18, 2024 - 2 comments

Driven by a dream of revenge against those who made her an outcast in Edo-period Japan, a young warrior cuts a bloody path toward her destiny. [more inside]
posted by KaizenSoze on Nov 6, 2023 - 24 comments

Trailer. A romantic biopic centering on Oda Nobunaga (Takuya Kimura) and his wife Nohime (Haruka Ayase) spanning 30 years of the Sengoku period. Traces Nobunaga's rise to power and struggle to unify Japan viewed through the lens of a tumultuous relationship. Toei Company's 70th Anniversary film. Streaming on Amazon Prime. [more inside]
posted by okonomichiyaki on Aug 16, 2023 - 1 comment

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear. [more inside]
posted by mark k on Jun 27, 2023 - 4 comments

Against a backdrop of political intrigue, a sociopath samurai leaves a trail of bodies and vendettas in his wake. [more inside]
posted by Stuka on Oct 17, 2022 - 2 comments

Japanese peasants Matashichi (Kamatari Fujiwara) and Tahei (Minoru Chiaki) try and fail to make a profit from a tribal war. They find a man and woman whom they believe are simple tribe members hiding in a fortress. Although the peasants don't know that Rokurota (Toshirô Mifune) is a general and Yuki (Misa Uehara) is a princess, the peasants agree to accompany the pair to safety in return for gold. Along the way, the general must prove his expertise in battle while also hiding his identity. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 1, 2022 - 7 comments

Takashi Miike remakes a 1963 film based on historical events. Shinzaemon Shimada leads a team of assassins in 19th-century Japan to eliminate the ruthless Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is wreaking havoc against his own people. Hired secretly by a government official hoping to end Matsudaira's reign of terror, Shimada recruits the best samurai in Japan and then sets a trap for the lord's large contingent of faithful bodyguards. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jul 2, 2022 - 8 comments

A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father's death. [more inside]
posted by SPrintF on May 10, 2022 - 6 comments

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back. [more inside]
posted by sapagan on Apr 21, 2021 - 0 comments

A humorless samurai, nearly desperate for work, agrees to assassinate a goblin cat that is accused of possessing a man's soul. (Japanese tv original, streaming on Amazon Prime) [more inside]
posted by oh yeah! on Feb 13, 2020 - 6 comments

A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jun 18, 2018 - 4 comments

We each deserve to choose our own fate. [more inside]
posted by litera scripta manet on May 27, 2018 - 79 comments

While Spike is after the Teddy Bomber, he comes across Cowboy Andy, the other bounty hunter that criminals fear. And he's a real cowboy fanatic, with the horse, the costume, an entrance song and he's a member of the YMCA (that is, Young Men's Cowboy Association). Well, he was, until he was kicked out for causing too much trouble. Can the Teddy Bomber finish his monologue without being interrupted, and will Andy and Spike find a way to co-exist in the small world of bounty hunting? [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 21, 2014 - 3 comments