Hara-Kiri (2012), dir. Miike Takashi. This is a remake of a classic 1960's film, which, unfortunately, I haven't seen yet, so I can't compare the two. I haven't seen a Miike film in quite a while- it seems that he's toned down considerably. He may even have lost some spark for this venture. The film is well done but seems a bit flat and could perhaps stand to cut the middle by 20 minutes.
DUDE, see the ORIGINAL.
I have no idea about this remake. And I am no samurai fetishist or whatever.
Great film. I think the original was marketed under both Hari-Kiri and Sepaku in the States.
I read the synopsis on Wikipedia and might have to watch both of them. I kind of want to watch a Samurai movie (been playing a lot of Shogun II on the computer) and was just going to rent the Seven Samurai for the ten millionth time, but could be interested in something new.
Also, has any one seen Rashomon? A friend suggested it and I love Kurosawa and Mifune together.
Are you kidding?
Of course. I've seen all of Kurosawa's stuff.
It's not as bad as the Seven in the sense of being blatantly ripped-off a million times and sorta cinematically naive along with self-indulgently long.
But you've seen Rashomon before, heck it is a prop dramatic structure, which incidentally a writer for the LA Times doesn't understand using it to describe the new season of Arrested Development.
Anyhoo I am losing it.
Mifune is always great. Always. If you really want to go down the samurai route, we can do this.
I hope to all that is right that you have seen Ran.
Ran is possibly my favorite film of all time. I also loved
Throne of Blood though it is less complex and rich (much like Macbeth is less complex and rich than King Lear).
Recommending Samurai films in general is hard- there is such a range of stuff from fun schlock to high art. Aside from the Kurosawa must-sees, I really loved Inagaki's 1962 adaptation of
Chusingura- just a gorgeous film from every angle. If you like Mifune, then of course you need to see Inagaki's Samurai trilogy as well.
A less well-known film which I thought was amazing was
Onibaba, which has more of a horror element to it. I guess it could only be tangentially considered a samurai movie, but I kinda just wanted to mention it because it's great. Same deal for
Kwaidan. Also, if you like ninjas,
Shinobi-no-Mono is buckets of fun.
And if you want to see the ultimate film pitting ninjas against samurai against Chinese kung fu masters, Ching Tsiu-tung's
Duel to the Death is just the greatest thing ever. I never tire of talking about this movie. Any movie where a guy's head gets chopped off, flies onto a tree branch, says, "You will die," and then explodes cannot be missed. Nobody combines slapstick humor, grim tragedy, and just ridiculous violence like the Hong Kong kung fu directors.
Topic: What movies are you watching? (Read 704303 times)