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The Twilight Samurai

Hiroyuki Sanada (Actor), Rie Miyazawa (Actor), Yôji Yamada (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 643 ratings
IMDb8.1/10.0
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November 22, 2004 		—
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December 28, 2004 		—
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Product Description

Product Description

{NOMINATED FOR 2004 ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM}

{12 Wins in the Japanese Film Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress.}

Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a low-ranking samurai living in the fading days of the Shogun period in Japan. His wife has died of tuberculosis, and with two daughters and an elderly mother to support, he and his family must survive in austerity. The divorce of his childhood friend Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa) leads him into a confrontation with her violent ex-husband, a high ranking samurai, and Seibei triumph against all odds. Just Seibei as begins to dream that despite his impoverishment he might win the hand of the long loved Tomoe, he is caught in the shifting turmoil of the times. His superiors, having heard of his sword-fighting prowess, order him on a dangerous mission: kill a renowned warrior who is on the wrong side of a clan power struggle.

Amazon.com

Slow-paced and subtle in presentation, The Twilight Samurai captures a side of the famed samurai that is rarely seen. Set in a northeastern province (Shonai) of late nineteenth century Japan, the film tells the story of Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada)--a low-ranking, debt-ridden samurai who, after losing his wife to consumption, struggles to care for his two young daughters and senile mother. Emphasizing the conflicts between duty and family, and love and class rank, director Yoji Yamada has created a film that is deeply engaging on several levels: a classic tale of honor, love, and courage.

Winner of 12 Japanese Film Academy Awards, as well as an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, The Twilight Samurailives up to its billing. But don’t expect an action-packed, samurai-fighting film, or you will be sadly disappointed (there are only two modest fight scenes). --Joel Berman

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Yôji Yamada
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 9 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ December 28, 2004
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ FIRST RUN FEATURES
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00065GX0K
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 643 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
643 global ratings
Not Just Best Foreign Film of the Year -- The BEST Film of the Year. Period.
5 Stars
Not Just Best Foreign Film of the Year -- The BEST Film of the Year. Period.
This was not just the best foreign film of the year, I think it was the best film period. The entire cast is wonderful, especially Hiro Sanada, who is one of the finest dramatic actors in the business today. He is known for a history of Samurai and action films from the 70s through the 90s, however in the past few years he has gained a lot of recognition as a serious dramatic actor, even performing in King Lear with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His range and acting ability is really showcased in this film.The story is touching and a very well played out drama. There are actually very few sword or fighting scenes in this film, and none of them very graphic, so it is not your typical Samurai movie. The story instead shows the life and hardships of "The Twilight Samurai" as he tries to care for his family on a poverty level petty Samurai salary. Beautifully played is his silent anguish when he learns that his childhood friend, a woman he has loved all of his life, is suddenly back in his village and single after divorcing her abusive husband. He does not believe he is good enough for her, so he declines when her brother offers her hand in marriage. I will not disclose any spoiler alerts here. Just know that the ending scenes are very powerful as he finds her waiting for him after he returns from a battle he was not expected to survive. If you love a well developed drama with exceptional acting, this movie will not disappoint.
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Top reviews from the United States

David Leung
5.0 out of 5 stars Best DVD of the Japanese Samurai Saga
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
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This is a very unusual Samurai movie. The hero was an often ridiculed character with undiscovered sword talent. At the end , he was forced to fight a demon criminal who was the top Japanese sword master. It was a test of courage. All he got is the faith that justice and righteous will win over evil.
The sword fight scenes were great and the story of romance was uplifting, making this the best Samurai movie of this decade!
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TerDickison
5.0 out of 5 stars There's a reason it's Oscar-nominated
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2014
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I've been a fan of Hiroyuki Sanada for years and found this on an Amazon search. Quite glad that I bought it because it's quite an excellent study on the way life must have been for the "regular joe" Samurai in fuedal Japan. Most samurai movies are generally of the heightened, adventurous, swash-buckling types. This is definitely not that so if you're looking for an action movie about samurai, keep looking.

What this is, is a study of a man trained as a lower-level samurai and just trying to get by with a life that has seen its share of hardships. Before this film, I was unaware that there were different social classes of samurai and that your life as a samurai could be more or less difficult because of it. Sanada is a long-time and popular actor in both his native Japan and globally (he was with Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai). He plays the "twilight samurai" who is trying to just take care of his two daughters and his elderly mother while holding down a menial clerk's job. He has no desire to take anyone's life even though that is his job and he has to do it if his superiors tell him to. That is what essentially happens and his struggle to do his duty and live a simple life is the core of the story along with his efforts to help a woman who was his childhood friend and who he has now fallen in love with. Sanada garners your sympathy from the outset and makes you fervently wish for a happy ending for him. Does he get it? You'll have to rent or buy this to find out because I'm not going to spoil it for you!

There are English subtitles which are quite easy to read but I did find myself wishing I knew even a little Japanese so that I could concentrate on watching the actors and their expressions even more. The movie has a fairly naturalistic tone to it; the characters are not behaving with heightened or exaggerated language or actions. I found it to be quite effecting after I watched it.
9 people found this helpful
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Tony
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Samurai movie I've ever seen. I wish I could give it more stars!
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2016
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A friend and I, both long time martial artists and lovers of good films, came across this movie quite by accident. We watched the movie using the subtitles, and were immediately hooked. It was amazing as a complete story with such good development of those dynamics and personalities that characterize life for everyone, e.g. at work with the conversations while Seibei was at his station and the chatter when he left, Seibei's relationship with his senile mother, his two beautiful daughters and his retarded servant, Seibei's interactions with his boss, a jealous drunk, and so on. Everything carried such great authenticity without the overblown emotiveness that seems to have characterized many of "Samurai" movies. Being keen on observing how the combat scenes were played out, I was tremendously impressed with all phases, e.g., when Seibei is warming up his mind and body for a duel, feeling out of shape and slow (like the other Samurai he didn't practice much at all as he had a family and work), the melee itself, which was kept completely appropriate in duration, action level and technique given the relative conditioning of each, and with a twist I don't want to give away. Ditto for the final combat scene which Seibei was forced into, and in a truly believable way. Nothing felt overblown or exaggerated. The final moments of the final battle were unlike any I'd seen before, and possibly full of subtleties that are symbolic to Japanese that are beyond my specific knowledge. Yet the whole battle was absolutely epic in range of its engagement on an emotional, intellectual and physical level. My mind is still ringing with it. To sum up, I watched this movie without once thinking "That's bulls***" or feeling a particular scene was overdone or stupid or implausible. I can't rate this movie highly enough.
49 people found this helpful
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Anaguma
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Period Drama; OK DVD
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2004
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This Japanese Period drama, set in about 1865, 3 years before the Meiji Restoration, is among the best of its genre to be produced. Yoji Yamada wanted to make a period piece that was realistic, and not a "super hero" samurai story where 20 swordsmen are killed in 1 minute by a single non-scratched foe (especially the Japanese TV period dramas and Kurosawa to some extent).

It follows the life of a lower level, 50 koku (30 to live on) accountant samurai in what is now Yamagata Prefecture, beginning with the death of his wife from tuberculosis ("consumption"). We learn later that he had to sell his katana (long sword) to pay for the funeral to meet clan standards, so he was a samurai who had sold the basis for his samurai life (the katana is the soul of the warrior). Heavily in debt, he is carried along by situations of his own and others' making, until he is forced into a conflict he wished to avoid. In some ways, he is the type of hero that you find in Eastwood's "Unforgiven."

The story is slow but steady, and Sanada makes the character of Seibei one that a modern person can easily relate; someone caught inescapably in the rat race of his time.

The DVD is OK with two interviews, one with Yamada and one with Sanada and 3 trailers (2 for other movies), but the subtitles are burned into the film. They are also only in English. This is unfortunate because the actors deliver Japanese that is understandable (compared with a Toshiro Mifune delivery-"Aba yo"), and you have to try to ignore the subtitles to concentrate on the Japanese. (I find myself even reading subtitles for an English movie.) I would be happier if the subtitles could be turned off.

Even with the shortcomings of the DVD, this is a 5-star film.
12 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Johann A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Envoi rapide
Reviewed in France on January 19, 2024
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Lee Elaine
5.0 out of 5 stars Eine der schönsten Filme über Japan im 19. Jahrhundert
Reviewed in Germany on March 26, 2015
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Zur DVD: Da ich den Film bereits 2006 gekauft habe, bin ich mit dieser neuen Edition sehr zufrieden. Wer sich über mangelnde Bildqualität oder wenige Extras ärgert, sollte bedenken, dass dieser Film bereits über 10 Jahre alt ist und mit einem viel kleineren Budget gedreht wurde, als sämtliche Hollywoodstreifen zu jener Zeit. Vielleicht sollte man sich auch einfach auf das wesentliche konzentrieren, die Inhalte und das Schauspiel der Darsteller.
Die deutsche Synchronisation wirkt auf mich immer noch fehl am Platz, ist jedoch schon wesentlich besser, als der schreckliche deutsche Trailer es vermuten lässt. (Ein Fehler der Synchronisation ist übrigens, dass in der Szene am Fluss "China" erwähnt wird, wo es natürlich "Japan" heißen sollte.) Wer atmosphärisch ganz in den Film einsteigen möchte, sollte sich ihn auf jeden Fall nochmal auf Japanisch mit Untertiteln ansehen.

Zum Film: The Twilight Samurai spielt Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts in der "Bakumatsu"-Zeit (Ende des Bakufu) im Nordosten Japans.
In dieser Übergangszeit findet der Wechsel von der Shôgunats/Bakufu-Regierung zur Regierungsepoche des späteren Meijikaisers statt. Generell eine sehr unruhige und durch viele Veränderungen geprägte Zeit, spiegeln sich in "The Twilight Samurai" diese Veränderungen im Leben des niedrigeren Samurai Seibei Iguchi wieder.
Als Samurai, dem Ehre und Ruhmestaten eigentlich viel weniger bedeuten als Familie und eine gute Ernte, wird er von anderen eher belächelt. Das ändert sich, als er eines Tages eher ungewollt in ein Duell gerät und sich hervorragend schlägt. Doch dadurch gerät er tiefer in die Wirren der Zeit hinein und steht letztlich in der Pflicht, einem unbesiegbar geltenden Gegner gegenüber zu treten.

Doch wer nun auf einen Samurai-Film im Martial-Arts Stil oder ein episches Monument wie Last Samurai hofft, der wird auf etwas ganz anderes stoßen. Auf eine ganz ruhige, beinah alltäglich scheinende Weise erschließen sich einem die Eigenheiten japanischer Kultur in dieser Epoche und die Charaktere schaffen es, zu berühren. Besondern der Hauptcharakter Seibei Iguchi und seine kleine Tochter Itô, die einen ganz eigenen Charme besitzen, aber auch die schöne und selbstbewusste Tomoe und der gescheiterten Yogo sind herausragend. Trotzdem würde ich sagen, dass Seibei Iguchi, hier gespielt von Hiroyuki Sanada, der Dreh- und Angelpunkt dieses Filmes ist und sich Stärke der anderen Charaktere immer im Umgang mit ihm zeigt.
Der Film lebt durch diese starken, einfühlsamen Charaktere und durch die authentische Darstellung des japanischen Alltags zu jener Zeit. Selbst mein Mann, der historischen Filmen wenig abgewinnen kann, gefiel der Film aufgrund der überzeugenden Darstellung der japanischer Kultur. Für jeden Japan-Liebhaber und auch für geschichtlich interessierte Menschen ist dieser Film eigentlich ein Muss - und ein Genuss!
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Mirko
5.0 out of 5 stars Il samurai del Crepuscolo, un insolita via del Samurai!
Reviewed in Italy on February 12, 2014
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Ho comprato questo film dopo che ne ebbi sentito parlare molto bene ed ero oltremodo curioso di saggiare questo atipico spaccato di vita di un samurai; devo ammettere che il film è sorprendentemente bello, tocca tematiche importanti nella vita di ogni sacrosanto essere umano degno di questo nome in maniera impeccabile ed oltremodo toccante! Il film non mostra quasi mai le tipiche scene votate ai duelli all'arma bianca che ci si aspetterebbe in ogni buon film di Samurai , ciononostante quello che trasmette è una profondità dei sentimenti, dell'onore e di tutte le qualità più buone e pure intrinseche in ogni buona persona! Un film triste ma tremandamente poetico, suggestivo e anche positivo, che mette in risalto i veri valori a discapito dei luoghi comuni e delle ambizioni troppo spesso votate al mero vil denaro! Un vero must a mio avviso per chi come me davvero apprezza la cultura nipponica e la figura del samurai! Consiglio di recuperare anche i restanti 2 capitoli della trilogia di suddetto regista, ovvero The Hidden Blade e Love and Honor, entrambi purtroppo mai sbarcati da noi e disponibili sottotitolati nella sola lingua inglese!
7 people found this helpful
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Darth Maciek
5.0 out of 5 stars A magnificent and very confucian story - and a great movie!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2008
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This is a great movie, well desserving five stars. This story of a poor samurai, Seibei Iguchi, who struggles valiantly to take care of his sick wife, senile mother and two little daughters (and one devoted although not very clean servant), is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

Because he doesn't laugh (or speak for that matter) a lot and never has time (or money) to drink with his fellow samurai, Iguchi earns finally the nick name "Twilight Samurai". A simple, calm, honest and gentle man, Iguchi never was very ambitious - he has however much more steel (and talent) in him than anybody expects... As you will see in the movie, the fate will accumulate more and more hardships on his way, until one day he finally has the possibility to greatly improve his material situation and his standing in the clan... but for a price which he is not ready to pay. No more details here.

As it is strongly hinted at the very beginning of this movie, to understand it fully, we should consider some of the teachings by Confucius. There are two confucianisms - the original one, created by Confucius in V century BC and the official one (greatly stressing the obligation of blind obedience to the superiors), which was developped by court appointed officials under the emperor Han Wudi in II century BC. Here the original teachings are the main point of the movie. Confucius insisted a lot on the acceptance of one's situation and of his place in the society and encouraged to obey and respect the superiors - but on another hand he also called every person to cultivate the virtue, and precised that the higher is one's station in life, the greater should be his virtue. Obedience to superiors and personal virtue HAVE to collide occasionally and in this movie they do... even very much so. Confucius knew better than to try to give a ready procedure how to solve those conflicts - instead he recommanded a lot of common sense, patience and reflexion. He knew that there is no good solution in such a situation, but one can limit the damage... the best he can. And this problem is precisely described in this movie. And it is described with a breathtaking perfection!

This is a long and slow movie, so if you lack patience, you will not like it. If you like martial arts displays, you will be disappointed too, because even if there are some (not much), this is REALLY not the point of this movie. However if you like great cinema and especially if you like great Japanese cinema, this is what you need to see!

At least one of the female reviewers claimed that this is the kind of man, that every man should be, an example to everybody... but I believe she somehow missed one moment in the movie, during the conversation between Iguchi and Zenemon Yogo (this is the most important moment in the movie - do NOT miss it!). During this conversation, and especially at the end, you will see, that Iguchi is not as kind, simple and innocent you would believe... there is a part of the snake in this angel and there is some Dark Side in his Force... You will see it by yourself.

I loved this movie very much and I recommend it with all my heart.
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エッキー
5.0 out of 5 stars 真田広之さんの傑作
Reviewed in Japan on November 27, 2023
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撮された日本の風景、真田広之さんの黄昏た演技、ストーリーともに傑作と思う。また宮沢りえさんの方言での話し方、ラストシーンの安堵感と優しさは◎
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