Having seen this film the mind becomes clouded with the innumerable things to say about it. Only praise comes to mind. Kobayashi has crafted The great samurai film for the rebel generation and he mixes a deftly handled criticism of authoritarian hypocrisy with a very touching piece of human drama.

The plot is deceptively simple: an old samurai (touchingly portrayed by Tatsuya Nakadai of "Ran", "Kagemusha" and "Sword of Doom") arrives at a clan castle to commit seppuku in their yard, and then tells his tale, seemingly trying to gain time at first. What seems to be the rambling of an old man soon turns out to be a grieving account of how this man (and, more significantly, his loved ones) was wronged by the clan. Then comes the violent revenge (this is where you think "Wild Bunch with katanas", though they do up the ante toward the end with guns...).

Kobayashi's direction is masterful, keeping an unbearable suspense during the mostly talky film, handling the touching scenes with care and maturity and giving us a sweeping fight to top all that. The 133 minutes running time never feels half that long! At the heart of it all though, is Nakadai, who, despite an excellent CV, delivers his greatest performance ever. His Tsugumo evokes a wounded panther, grieving an grieving until it gives in to fury. Nakadai's performance alone marks the film as essential viewing.

If you're open to samurai flicks, this will rank among the finest films you've ever seen.

This film was very well-made and the story is excellent. The story begins with a man asking his local warlord permission to commit ritual suicide. His reason is that the country has been at peace so long that ronin (out of work and master-less Samurai) have no income and nothing to do. So, instead of the indignity of just wasting away, a vicious and painful suicide is apparently the best option! Instead of instantly granting this request, the Counselor tells the suicidal ronin about a similar request that occurred recently and how the ronin who killed himself probably only asked for permission to die as a ruse to get money from the warlord! In other words, this other man had hoped that his request would NOT be granted and he would instead been given a small income. But, not wanting to see the Bushido code perverted, the warlord demanded that this man commit ritual suicide--even though the sword the ronin had was made of bamboo and doing the painful ritual was super-painful and difficult with such a sword.

This story was pretty interesting but how it related to this second ronin is what makes this story so interesting. Plus, I loved how the story ended.

Overall, I think this is a bit of an "anti-Samurai" film, as it talked how adherence to the rules of Bushido actually could be very cruel and violate the spirit of the feudal system. The inherent cruelty and desire to only worry about appearances instead of right and wrong make this an excellent and intriguing movie. Good stuff.

It's 1630. There is peace in the land and many samurai have become poor homeless vagrants. Hanshiro Tsugumo is a samurai whose clan has fallen. He comes to the home of a feudal clan to ask permission to commit seppuku within the courtyard. Kageyu Saito is a senior counsel and he tries to deter the man with the story of another ronin Motome Chijiiwa from the same clan. They forced him to do the job despite he has sold his blade. All he has is a blade made of bamboo. It's a brutal painful event. Nevertheless, Hanshiro insists on continuing with his seppuku and then he reveals that he did indeed know Motome.

The first recollection is actually quite compelling. It catches my attention culminating in one of the most memorable horrific scenes. The rest of the movie can't really compare. It's another series of recollections and it's not as compelling. I think it would be just as good to compress the second half and keep the big final fight.