Osmosis Iron Definitely the best samurai flick that was not done by Kurosawa! In fact it actually surpasses many of his masterpieces! The brilliant cinematography and intense swordplay is complimented by an intricate and well told story that stays with you.

elvircorhodzic HARAKIRI is an action drama about an unfortunate fate and an ironic revenge of a ronin.A ronin arrives at an estate of one clan and says that he wishes to commit seppuku (hara kiri) within the courtyard of their palace. To deter him, a senior counselor tells him the story about a young ronin who is looking for a way to commit seppuku, but set of circumstances has made his death a slow, painful and humiliating. Despite this warning a poor ronin insists that he has never heard that story and says that he has no intention of leaving their palace alive. After a suicide pavilion is set up in the courtyard of the palace, the ronin is asked to name the samurai who shall behead him when the ritual is complete. Coincidentally, he has chose three samurai who have participated in the ritual of the unfortunate young ronin from the counselor's story. However, all three decline to come, saying they are suffering from a life-threatening illness. The ronin has laughed ironically and started his shocking confession...This is a very dramatic and tragic story with a very strong final climax. That ritualistic form of suicide is further reinforce the impression of a dark atmosphere. The main villain is a certain kind of a corrupt lord. A desperate and poor hero slowly serves his revenge, with the intent to humiliate and embarrass his opponents. An ancient tradition, political conflicts and shattered pride follow his painful confession. Mr. Kobayashi has enriched a tense situation with a vivid and sad retrospectives. The final battle is truly magnificent, even an occasional shred of theatricality has its role. Characterization is pretty good. Tatsuya Nakadai (Tsugumo Hanshirō) has offered an excellent performance as a desperate and poor, but focused and brave ronin.The brutality and an attack in the agony give us an entirely new expression of the ancient samurai world.

popcorninhell American ethos has always had a soft-spot for the conscientious objector. We're a nation of fervent individualists and everything from the writings of Mark Twain to the film 12 Angry Men (1957) codifies that idea. The power of an individual against a torrent of common corruption and blind group-think is almost fetishized, especially in contemporary society. The Japanese, generally speaking, don't have such a provocative streak of individualism embedded in their culture. So it's interesting that one of the most eloquent and austerely beautiful films on the subject should come from the land of the rising sun. Harakiri is a repudiation of the collective values of Japan that, on its best days unites a population in tragedy and at its worst marches a people towards war.Hanshiro Tsugumo (Nakadai) is an aging and embittered samurai whose feudal lord has died in battle along with most of his men. In order to reclaim his honor, according to the bushido code, Tsugumo must disembowel himself in a ritual suicide known as seppuku. To do this he arrives at the feet of Saito Kageyu (Mikuni) and asks members of the Iyi daimyo to help him do the ceremony correctly. Kageyu is hesitant as only a few days ago a similar request was made by another ronin who had no intention of committing seppuku but was looking to extort the clan for money. After Kageyu retells the man's tale, which culminates in the ronin dying by the blade of a bamboo sword, Tsugumo insists his intentions are to die with honor. Yet as the pavilion where the deed is to be done is setup, questions remain. What is Tsugumo's connection to the earlier ronin? Why did he pick the courtyard of the Iyi clan out of all others? Finally does he really intent to reclaim his honor, or is there something else going on?Told in a dizzying array of flashbacks and flash-forwards, Harakiri is not a leisurely movie to watch while folding laundry. It demands the attention of the viewer and weaves a complex tale of Hanshiro Tsugumo's home life after the fall of his clan. He's stricken with the most dire poverty, contemplating his daughter's (Iwashita) sale as a concubine and working menial jobs just to get by. His daughter, son-in-law Motome (Ishihama) and infant grandson Kingo are his only solace from a life of dishonor. Their fates become intimately intertwined with Tsugumo and the Iyi clan in unexpected ways and paying close attention to the plot pays off stunningly in the end.In his own quiet and ultimately unsettling way director Masaki Kobayashi strips away the nobility and romanticism commonly associated with feudal Japan. While doing so he implicates the modern audience (at the time the Japanese public circa 1962) in tolerating authoritarianism under the guise of honor. Harakiri recalls and parallels the days of Japanese imperialism and uses a single individual as a means to take apart the misplaced hubris of anyone still beholden to the old guard. Kobayashi himself was drafted in the army during WWII but repeatedly refused promotion beyond that of a private; his own way of fighting corruption, hypocrisy and evil.The film comes to a conclusion so damning and memorable that I dare not ruin the satisfaction of watching it for the first time. Harakiri is an absolute treasure featuring a star turn by Nakadai who first made an indelible mark on Japanese screens in Kobayashi's The Human Condition Trilogy (1959-1961). Here, while playing a character much older than himself, he still has a certain inner- turmoil that channels James Dean with a strong baritone. Finally there's Kobayashi's masterful direction which watches pensively and almost perversely as the jigsaw pieces fall in place.

SnoopyStyle It's 1630. There is peace in the land and many samurai have become poor homeless vagrants. Hanshiro Tsugumo is a samurai whose clan has fallen. He comes to the home of a feudal clan to ask permission to commit seppuku within the courtyard. Kageyu Saito is a senior counsel and he tries to deter the man with the story of another ronin Motome Chijiiwa from the same clan. They forced him to do the job despite he has sold his blade. All he has is a blade made of bamboo. It's a brutal painful event. Nevertheless, Hanshiro insists on continuing with his seppuku and then he reveals that he did indeed know Motome.The first recollection is actually quite compelling. It catches my attention culminating in one of the most memorable horrific scenes. The rest of the movie can't really compare. It's another series of recollections and it's not as compelling. I think it would be just as good to compress the second half and keep the big final fight.