Harakiri

When I first saw this movie, I did not know much about it. I saw it for a class so I was given a little background of the time period. In fact I was pretty much just told this:

This movie takes place during the time where many Samurai were left ronins, or masterless. These samurai were unable to find work and thereby were left in poverty. Eventually many would go up to clans and ask to commit seppuku.

It was dishonorable to refuse such a "noble" request, but most clans did not want samurai to kill themselves on their property so they would just pay the samurai to go elsewhere.

So I watched the movie and well... I loved it. During the class discussion the next day I found most people hated the movie. Not because it was a bad movie, but because of how it made people feel about themselves. And that's exactly why this movie is genius. If you're interested in watching this movie, do not read the summary in detail - reading the summary in detail will deprive you of what one of the key things that made the movie great IMO.

The generation that came after the renown Japanese directors Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi is generally regarded as less talented. The main representatives of this generation are Kaneto Shindo, Kon Ichikawa en Masaki Kobayshi. Personally I would like to make an exception for Masaki Kobayashi, who is in my opinion the equal of Kurosawa, Ozu and Muzoguchi.

Kobayashi is best known in the West for his ghost stories "Kwaidan" (1964). The rest of his repertoire, among which the samurai movie "Harakiri" (1962), is not to be sneezed at either.

A samurai movie is usually seen as a sort of Western of the East. Main ingredients of the Western genre are action and the battle beween the law (good) and the villains (bad).

In "Harakiri" (which literal translation is: hara = belly , kiri = cutting) in stead of the law there is the samurai code of honor (Bushido in Japanese). But this code of honor is not the good element of the film. Rather it is revealed as a force of ruthlessness and hypocrisy. In the film the Bushido is represented by the Li clan.

In "Harakiri" there is also little action. Only towards the end there is something that can be seen as a "shoot out". But in this shoot out the evil is not overcome, but only revealed as shallow (the idol of the Li clan is shown to be an empty armor).

Translated in Western movie genres "Harakiri" is therefore no Western. Maybe it can be categorised as a Court room drama. The heart of the film consists of main character Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) telling his sad story. This story is in essence a requisitor against the Bushido. The performance of Nakadai as a broken Tsugumo is brilliant. His requisitor is not only aimed at the Li clan, but also against his own past. Once Tsugumo also was a samurai.

Kobayashi was a convinced humanist all his life. Apart from "Harakiri" he also made the 9,5 hours epos "The human condition" (1959-1961). This epos is situated in World War II. For Kobayashi kamikaze was just another form of Harakiri and thus just another utterance of the old Bushido.

"Harakiri" ("Seppuku") (Japanese, 1962): It is the 17th century. A young Samurai warrior arrives at a mansion, asking to perform his ritual death there. In a series of flashbacks, we learn who he is, why he came, and what has occurred since. Although quietly told by another ex-warrior (about whom we also learn more), this is an interesting story that builds in complexity and tension. Debates about rituals and appearances may at first seem to hold more significance in old Japan than in the contemporary United States, but it is not difficult to translate and implement such thoughts. Love, honor, duty, family, children, saving "face", determination, desperation…they all exist in OUR everyday lives. Dramatically photographed in beautiful black & white, given a strong Japanese score, and paced so that even the mildly patient will be glad they saw it, "Harakiri" is epically huge, and a must-see for story & film lovers.

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.

Harakiri is an excellent human drama set in feudal Japan that involves a ronin presenting himself to a powerful clan and asking to commit harikiri. However, through a series of flashbacks we see that this ronin is motivated by more than the idea of dying honorably. The events that follow are a critique of the feudal system and a celebration of dying for one's beliefs.

Every frame in Harikiri is wonderfully composed and a treat to view. The cinematography is crisp, the sets wonderful and the actors are spectacular. Much can be said about this film's technical merits as well as its social implications. I found out about this film through my love of Akira Kurosawa's samurai dramas (who else...) and I must say that it is very different from Kurosawa-sans work although it draws inevitable comparisons. Due to its themes, Harikiri is more of an anti samurai film. Generally Kurosawa's work seems to glorify the honor of the samurai and celebrate them as Japanese heroes by showing them gloriously in battle. Kurosawa is the Japanese John Ford, taking an icon from his culture and celebrating it. Harikiri exposes the virtues that Kurosawa portrays as being "a facade" to directly quote the film.

I say this so as not to mislead any potential viewers, I do not know enough about Japanese history to judge what the samurai really stood for and really I am not concerned with the idea. This is the only Kobyashi film I have seen and it has been brought to my attention that many of his films deal with similar themes. All in all I think that Harikiri is a wonderful film that offers a new take on feudal Japan.