Hara Kiri (original title: Seppuku) | Masaki Kobayshi | 1962 | Japan | Format: 35mm | 133 min
After re-watching it again, I'm ready to declare this film classic as one of my top 5 films of all time and the best samurai film I've ever seen (Sword of Doom, also starring Tatsuya Nakadai, comes at a close second). This one has it all though: a great plot, hypnotic acting, poetic cinematography, poignant use of sound and editing, thrilling fight scenes... Kobayashi brought his A+ game on this one.
After re-watching it again, I'm ready to declare this film classic as one of my top 5 films of all time and the best samurai film I've ever seen (Sword of Doom, also starring Tatsuya Nakadai, comes at a close second). This one has it all though: a great plot, hypnotic acting, poetic cinematography, poignant use of sound and editing, thrilling fight scenes... Kobayashi brought his A+ game on this one.
Seriously, this film left me in a state of awe...
Oh, the still long shots,
the compositions,
the use of angles and zooms,
the ironic revelation of samurai honor and political facade,
the sentimentality and humanity,
the tension -- Wow!
By the way, I love the self-reflexive meta moment around 2:34 of this trailer. And I am convinced Tatsuya Nakadai would have played the ultimate Itto Ogami.
And here's Roger Ebert with more thoughts on Hara Kiri.
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