Videos From Vault: Tasogare Seibei
There are few films that have blown me away like Yoji Yamada’s classic Tasogare Seibei (Twilight Samurai).
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards and is the winner of 12, count em 12, Japanese Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
That might look nice on paper, all the awards and mentions the film has garnered, but I’m not sure that means a damn thing at the end of the day. Hell, James Cameron’s Titanic swept the Academy Awards durings its hay-day and I’m pretty sure kids get beat up in school if they were to bring a titanic lunch box with them.
I had seen the film for the first time three years ago and recently purchased the DVD and thought I’d see if it was as good as I remembered it…. It was… In fact it was better.
Sanada Hiroyuki and Miyazawa Rie star in a film about life during the transition from Edo to Meiji periods. The film has no big action sequence, no thumping loud score, no big war scene at all like the time period it is set against may suggest.
In fact the film is mostly conversation. And it owns! Watching this film is the closest I have ever felt to what ‘Ancient Japan’ must have looked like, sounded like, and been like..
Seibei Iguchi (Sanada) is a low ranking samurai who lives a meager life taking care of this two daughters and his old decrypted mother. Every night after work at twilight, he goes home to take care of the house and works his second job to pay off debts he incurred due to a long and slow death of his wife.
He sacrifices everything including his honor to see to it that his kids have the best upbringing possible. An old flame Tomoe (Miyazawa) meets up with Iguchi again and friendship begins rekindling a certain romance. But before anything can develop Seibei is thrust into a mission from the clan’s chieftain to kill an outsider where he has to put his life on the line.
Yoji Yamada’s pace in this film is slow but its methodical. There is so much truth and detail in every frame of this film that it is to behold rather then passively watch. It is a film that breaths far beyond the medium it is printed on and is so humanistic, that it just is a pleasure to watch.
Final Thought: 5 out 5 stars.
l need sme 1 in nottingham who has a studio l wann becme fam 
perfeckt 10:10
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Well, I’m sold! Don’t know how we missed this, but I think that a lot of Japanese movies get missed in the West–unless Disney wants to pick up a Miyazaki and have Billy Bob Thornton dub it…
Anyways, THINK I found a trailer on YouTube and although I thought it was a bit ho-hum (expecting lots of action) if your review is accurate, and I assume it IS of course! then this might be a pretty good trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wlv10wl484
However, along the way I ran into this gem, which is a 9-minute documentary about the film made by some fan. It starts out pretty generically with cuts from all your favorite samurai movies including Lady Snowblood, then goes on to the film professor saying things we know already but with nice clips for the example, but then gets into some really good stuff with the director and so on. A must-see, I would say, and so is the movie! Thank you so much.
The Twilight Samurai Video Essay
January 20th, 2007 at 6:38 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTjm7Pczq3w&mode=related&search=
Wholly CRAP Paul, the video essay is a fantastic find!!!!
Nice!! thank you!!
January 20th, 2007 at 6:49 amI too loved the movie. Saw it in a indie theater in St. Louis about 3 years ago as well. Brilliant with an subtle plot that unfolds like a blooming flower. The movie has an almost Buddhist understatement; the Samurai is very calm and accepting of his life and, although forced to do something against his will, applied himself fully to the task.
I agree with the 5 out of 5 stars.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:23 amYes, this is one of my favorite movies. Action directors need to study this movie. The first sword fight in the movie is 10X better than anything in the Matrix movies or Star Wars. It’s so simple, no theatrics, no overdone special efx or editing. No slow-mo. Just a great story, and when the action kicks in, it’s so realistic, you’ll be on the edge of your seat.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:46 amIn what way is his mother ‘decrypted’, as you say? like they used the enigma machine on her?
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:43 amOops type-o on my part. I meant to write Decrepit.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 amWhat did you think of the movie??
haven’t seen it. will eventually though I’m sure.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:50 pm[...] and Honor (2006) is a great movie that should remind you of Twilight Samurai – not too much “action” in it — but how it really was. I should say that [...]
December 19th, 2007 at 6:01 am