Harakiri

Seven Samurai is pretty great, but I think Harakiri is even better. This tale of a ronin seeking revenge and exposing the flawed samurai code is so close to perfection. The story is engrossing and despite the slow pacing it's never boring. What the production lacks in scale it makes up for with emotional intensity. The sparse, ominous score is perfect for this film. The direction and cinematography are masterful and the camera's slow pans and zooms really butter my croissant. The editing is great and purposeful too. There's not a single weak performance but Tatsuya Nakadai in the leading role steals the show.

My only complaints are with some of the pacing and fight choreography. There's a standoff scene in the middle that could have been cut (since it felt like a cheap way to build tension and it wouldn't make sense for them to continue waiting afterward) and the long flashback could have also been trimmed. The film is 2 hours 13 minutes but I think exactly 2 hours would have been perfect. From a fight choreography standpoint the one-on-one fight scenes were well done but climax was shaky. There were many interesting ideas and moments in there, but also several points where I was like "okay, how did they not strike him there?"

Harakiri is an outstanding film that deserves more attention. If you haven't seen this film check it out. The Criterion restoration is absolutely beautiful. I intentionally kept this review vague since it's best to go into it knowing as little as possible. With a few thousand more ratings, this film would be pretty high up on the IMDb Top 250, and I'd be delighted to see it there.

I've said it once about another movie, incidentally by the other great Japanese director as well and I want to repeat my words in regard to "Harakiri": "There are good, very good, and even great movies. But among them there are just a few that go beyond great. They belong to the league of their own". Masaki Kobayashi's "Harakiri" aka "Seppuku" is one of them. The film of rare power and humanism, of highest artistic achievements, profoundly moving, tragic like the best Shakespeare's plays, universal and timeless even if it takes place in the faraway country of 1630, by the words of one of the reviewers "Harakiri" "is to cinema as the Sistine Chapel is to painting. Unsurpassable!"

The film grabbed me from the very first shot, from its opening credits with their perfect harmony of kanji (I believe it is a correct word to describe the writings) characters, with the unusual disturbing score and with the dark beauty of the images. And then the story begins that centers on Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai), one of hundreds or maybe even thousands unemployed lord less samurais, ronin, that in the blessed times of peace had not many choices to adjust to new life and often preferred to commit a ritual suicide, hara-kiri or seppuku on the property of the wealthy estate owners. According to Bushido, the way of the samurai, "One who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly in mind, by day and by night . . . the fact that he has to die. That is his chief business."

At the same time, samurai and anti-samurai film, "Harakiri" offers the masterfully screened scenes of sword-fights, not plentiful but exquisitely choreographed, perfectly paced and unbearably intense but the film is much more than that. It is also a gripping court drama where the truth is unfolded in the flashbacks. The viewers are allowed to look closer at the noble Samurai code of behavior and to reflect on how its abuse impacts the fate of an individual and the society in general. Compelling, poetic, and tragic, the movie has one of the most pessimistic endings ever that makes you wonder how the history is made, how the historical events are interpreted and who decides what would be written in the chronicles and important documents and what would be left out.

A Masterpiece, one of the best movies ever made, "Harakiri" deserves all its praise. It is not in my nature to force my opinion on anyone but if you call yourself a movie buff or a movie lover, you MUST see this film.

This film is the purest distillation of the spirit of Greek tragedy ever put on celluloid. Yes, this is a review of Seppuku, a Japanese film released in 1962. Perhaps it took a non-Westerner, free of all of the cultural baggage and ridiculous associations, to see straight into the heart of the tragic mode and make it palpable and alive in the twentieth century. That is not all: the black and white cinematography is both formally assured and often outrageously daring; the soundtrack is one of the finest efforts of the greatest Japanese composer of the 20th century (or any century for that matter); the acting is demonically inspired; and the narrative is relentlessly gripping and involving. The film illuminates the relationship between the individual and society and between society and history. It is a tender meditation on familial love and the ties of friendship that transcend even death. This film will cut open your bowels, pull your soul out, and force you to stare it in the face. There may be other films that attain similar heights, but I cannot imagine any film, ever, being more perfect. Forget Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, the Godfather, etc. etc. all of those commodified canonical works that everybody raves about because everybody else is raving about them. Don't get me wrong, they're fine--but this stuff is 200 proof. See it today. Buy it yesterday.

The story of a Samurai, who requests to commit harakiri.

I have read many of the reviews with a great deal of respect, many have such an understanding of the culture, and a very deep understanding of the content of the film, for my ignorance I come here as a novice, with no understanding, so from my viewpoint, I'm watching a film I've been told I'd love. I've seen one samurai film prior to this.

First off, I had to check it was actually made in 1962, it felt way more advanced than that, the concepts and production.

I thoroughly engaged with it, the story was fascinating, and where I expected it to tell a general story, the focus was pretty much on one single character, Hanshiro Tsugumo.

Some of the pacing me be hard for some, the long drawn out scenes, I find very purposeful. The music is engaging, the acting terrific.

I wasn't surprised to learn that the swords and multitude of blades used in this movie were real, and that I think is one of the film's most successfully aspects, its authentic, a story presented in a very real fashion.

It's a powerful story, 9/10.

Well what can I say.. this 1962 movie directed by Masaki Kobayashi is one of the MOST powerful movies I have ever seen in my life! It is really a tremendous example of outstanding film making! The cinematography is absolutely exceptional! However it is the haunting plot of a samurai explaining the meaningless and worthless flawed belief of the samurai spirit which grips the viewer.

Tatsuya Nakadais mighty performance in Harakiri further proves for me, that he is without a doubt one of best actors in the history of film. This man takes on his roles with such prowess that it is easy for the viewer to forget that you have seen him play a different role in another movie.

By the way - The Criterion 2 disk DVD version is mint! An a MUST HAVE in any fans collection.