Tasogare Seibei (2002)

Director:

Yôji Yamada

Writers:

Shûhei Fujisawa (novels)
Yôji Yamada (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 November 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A 19th-century samurai tries to protect a battered wife.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Widower | Duel | Sheath | Seppuku

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 37 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Seibei Iguchi
Rie Miyazawa	...	Tomoe Iinuma
Nenji Kobayashi	...	Choubei Kusaka
Ren Ôsugi	...	Toyotarou Kouda
Mitsuru Fukikoshi	...	Michinojo Iinuma
Kanako Fukaura
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Naota
Miki Itô	...	Kayano Iguchi
Erina Hashiguchi	...	Ito Iguchi
Reiko Kusamura	...	Iguchi's Mother
Setsuko Tanaka
Kii Mizuno
Yuuki Natsusaka
Astushi Maeda
Tsukasa Sugawara

Also Known As:

The Twilight Samurai (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:129 min | USA:129 min | Argentina:129 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Eisei Gekijo Company

Quotes:

Ito: With a sick wife, two young daughters and an aged mother in his care, my father was unable to drink with his colleagues. He had to hurry home every evening at dusk. I was told the men he worked with gave him the cruel nickname of 'Twilight Seibei'.

Movie Connections:

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

A film of amazing depth and refined beauty.

I had been waiting a very long time for this movie to be released in my area, so when the time came I was fairly excited. Often, when I expect a lot out of a movie I am disappointed and end up hating something that may not deserve it. In this case, however, it lived up to and exceeded my expectations. The story line, character development, framing, pacing and action were all absolutely top-notch in my opinion. The film stands as a stark contrast to many other movies set in the same time period in Japan and beyond that it also possesses a very universal appeal. It reminded me of other good dramas in its tone (at times even a bit like the film "In America") and it had funny moments as well as heart-wrenching sadness throughout. It was effective without being too melodramatic, and did a wonderful job of enticing the viewer to empathize with the main character. From a martial arts standpoint I thought that the techniques used were very realistically applied and not at all outside of the realm of what samurai in this time period would have been doing. The fights were tense but very realistic. The last duel was stylized to a greater degree, reminding me of certain moments in Kurosawa's films and by extension certain Kabuki influences. All in all it was a very strong film. It's deep enough that it could stand up to repeated viewing, and in the way of subtititled films it would actually get better each time. Even if the story doesn't interest you it would be worthwhile to see it for the natural beauty of the location and the shots anyway. One of the finest films about feudal Japan that I have seen, and one of the best films I've seen at all.