I was really looking forward to watching this movie because its premise is so strong. Samurai Rebellion turned out to be a well done film with some great visuals and plenty of interesting camera angles to study.
The fact that I am remembering those nice camera angles so much does speak to the film’s somewhat slow pace, but Samurai Rebellion is not a boring movie and the mighty Toshiro Mifune is always fun to watch.
The story is about a woman who is dismissed from her life of privilege where she was originally brought to be bred and to serve the lord of a clan.
Circumstances arise later that cause the lord to desire her return. This doesn't sit well with the new husband, whom she now has a daughter with. Toshiro Mifune plays the father of the husband. A “rebellion” ensues, though the rebellion consists only of the husband and father. There is no epic battle scene with a cast of thousands. Be warned this film does not have a very happy ending.
If you are looking for a sword happy Samurai film, this would not be it. The sword fighting is held mostly until the end and the group fighting scene is not very convincing, but multiple attacker sword fighting scenes are rarely realistic, even in modern movies.
I felt the very last fight scene duel between Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai at the conclusion of the film was nicely done because of its appropriate brevity and pleasingly concise resolution. Real sword fighting typically involved very brief interaction between combatants.
If you are interested in Japanese cinema, and if you don't need car crashes and other intense activity to constantly stimulate and keep you awake in a movie, this story is certainly compelling enough to be entertaining. I enjoyed watching Samurai Rebellion.
Savage Japan Misc. Tidbits
Movies often have to be unrealistic and contrived, but I am still bothered by it when contrivances are out in the open and left there glaring at you. I admire films that find a way to keep such contrivances from mooning you unapologetically during the story.
This movie has a few “dropping its pants” moments for sure.
The guns at the end and lack of them earlier might be explained away, but before that problem showed up I was already wondering where the archers were in the evening courtyard scene. If an undignified slaughter was going to take place anyway, I doubt archers would have been excluded as a means of eliminating the obstacle. You will know what I mean when you get to that scene.
And why the hell are we sticking to the road (especially right at the gate) at the end of the movie. The set design did not include any massive “Wall of China” effect to preclude a little hike over a different hill.
But if movies were not allowed to be made that had problems like that, there would be very few movies to see in this world.
And a movie like this one is meant to be viewed more as a poem. If you solve the problems I just pointed out, you bypass the symbolic nature and drama of the confrontations that subsequently ensue.
But I still prefer when a film is better able to conceal its contrivances.
For Japanese Language Students
Though I found some of the Japanese dialogue in Samurai Rebellion to be highly listenable, in a large number of scenes conversations were far too fast for me to pick out much at my low level. Still, some lines in the film were spoken clearly and distinctly, and I did enjoy picking out what I could from this movie.
Dan Savage
Dan@SavageSnow.com
(not rated by MPAA)
