Samurai der Dämmerung

"Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei)" is a domestic drama and romance set in a very specific historical and cultural setting amidst civil strife, recalling "Cold Mountain."

As in much of the cross-fertilization of samurai movies and Westerns such that one can easily imagine a Westernized version, the opening situation recalls "Unforgiven," where a retired gunfighter just wants to be left alone to farm and raise his children and tries to resist pressures to stop putting his fighting skills under a literal grubby basket.

Hiroyuki Sanada gives a superbly nuanced performance as a rebel against the expectations of being the lowest of a high class in a rigidly caste society by embracing the sarcastic titular sobriquet. He is painfully reluctant that he is ever so circuitously revealed to be much more. World weary yet still proud, he gropes for words to explain to his shocked patriarch why he, as an indebted widower, prefers to come home straight from work to see his daughters grow up day by day than follow the family's dictates and anguishes to his best friend about his marriage prospects.

Gradually, surprising people around him are revealed to be as equally complex and frustrated with the roles their society insistently demands even as small step by suffocating step political and social webs inexorably ensnare them tighter and tighter. The flashes of their assertions of their individuality in unexpected moments make for quiet, gripping moments of tension and relief. As his returning childhood friend, Rie Miyazawa has a beautiful, spirited feminity that makes Sanada seem even more of a macho hunk in contrast.

A kind of Jane Austen action flick, it is the kind of movie where antagonists' stares make you hold your breath in suspense and the touch of a hand brings forth your tears.

The translator made a policy decision of just transliterating many traditional Japanese terms, from "sensei" to various styles of sword-fighting, etc. rather than try to find English equivalents. While their meaning can be pretty much inferred from context, it did help that post "Kill Bill" I've been making up for a benighted education that lacked samurai movies and Japanese history.

I found the voice-over narration by the younger daughter a bit schmaltzy and unnecessary. The closing song seemed jarringly period-inappropriate; if it wasn't a Japanese cover of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" then it was a real close imitation with the only clue in English that it was used with permission of EMI.

This is the first of novel adapter/director Yoji Yamada's 77 films that I've seen and I certainly now want to see more.

Twilight Samurai exemplifies the commitments of duty and sacrifice to one's children and one's community. The father -Seibei Iguchi- struggles between the honor he owes to his family and the demands of his work & fiefdom in feudal 16th century Japan. His character is not one of superficial envy engaging in many swordfights and long action sequences, instead this story seems to be as realistic as possible and profoundly moving as the viewers heart can help but go out to Iguchi in his struggle. This is an excellent film for any age or nationality to enjoy. I highly recommend Twilight Samurai It is already one of my all- time favorite films.

There were a couple times when I felt this film was veering into MacDonald's-commercial domestic shmaltz, but other than that, this movie was utterly perfect.

I've never been much of a fan of samurai movies, or any other kind of movies that glorify the facile wholesale slaughter of other human beings. So this movie was a real breath of fresh air in how it showed the real place that such samurai fighting occupied in that bygone era in Japan.

But the real star of this film is Seibei himself, his daughters, and his love, Tomoe. And their story is so real, so believable, so moving, it was just incredible.

It's a real shame that this title does not seem to be available on video or DVD in the US. This is one title I'd really like to add to my library.

Twilight Samurai

'Twilight Samurai' is a very sweet film. Sorry, those words, sweet and samurai, may not be used together too much but believe it! With luck, 'The Last Samurai' was just that for Hollywood but please Jollywood bring on more of these.

'Tasogare Seibei' is a story about a low-level Samurai family headed by a widower raising two daughters and his mother who's lapsing into senility. What little action in this film shows how far Seibei (Hiroyuki Sanada) has drifted from his professional prowess. He earns his keep as a scribe and an insect trap maker. When he is called on to defend the honor of his clan, his skill is resurrected although his heart is not in it.

Beautifully filmed and dramatically staged, 'Twilight Samurai' will amuse, dazzle and delight you. Told from the perspective of his daughter reflecting on her life with father, this sentimental tale has the feel of allegory and even novices to this genre will enjoy it. My only criticism is the abrupt ending without a clear resolution. And my lack of Japanese language skills distracted me from this well-acted, set and costumed film.

Just another reason to learn the language.

I had been waiting a very long time for this movie to be released in my area, so when the time came I was fairly excited. Often, when I expect a lot out of a movie I am disappointed and end up hating something that may not deserve it. In this case, however, it lived up to and exceeded my expectations. The story line, character development, framing, pacing and action were all absolutely top-notch in my opinion. The film stands as a stark contrast to many other movies set in the same time period in Japan and beyond that it also possesses a very universal appeal. It reminded me of other good dramas in its tone (at times even a bit like the film "In America") and it had funny moments as well as heart-wrenching sadness throughout. It was effective without being too melodramatic, and did a wonderful job of enticing the viewer to empathize with the main character. From a martial arts standpoint I thought that the techniques used were very realistically applied and not at all outside of the realm of what samurai in this time period would have been doing. The fights were tense but very realistic. The last duel was stylized to a greater degree, reminding me of certain moments in Kurosawa's films and by extension certain Kabuki influences. All in all it was a very strong film. It's deep enough that it could stand up to repeated viewing, and in the way of subtititled films it would actually get better each time. Even if the story doesn't interest you it would be worthwhile to see it for the natural beauty of the location and the shots anyway. One of the finest films about feudal Japan that I have seen, and one of the best films I've seen at all.