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Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

| image = Hara-Kiri.jpg

| caption = Film poster

| director = Takashi Miike

| producer = Toshiaki Nakazawa
Jeremy Thomas

| writer = Yasuhiko Takiguchi
Kikumi Yamagishi

| starring = Ichikawa Ebiz XI
Eita
Kji Yakusho

| music = Ryuichi Sakamoto

| cinematography = Nobuyasu Kita

| editing = Kenji Yamashita

| studio =

| distributor = Shochiku (Japan)

| released =

| runtime = 126 minutes

| country = Japan
United Kingdom

| language = Japanese

}}

is a 2011 Japanese 3D jidaigeki drama film directed by Takashi Miike. It was produced by Jeremy Thomas and Toshiaki Nakazawa, who previously teamed with Miike on his 2010 film '13 Assassins'. The film is a 3D remake of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 film 'Harakiri'.

It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the first 3D film to do so. 'The Village Voice' Michael Atkinson praised it describing it as "a melodramatic deepening and a grisly doubling-down of Kobayashi's great original". Composer and pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote the original score.

Plot



In 1635, Tsukumo Hanshiro's clan has lost its status and he requests permission to perform seppuku in the courtyard of the castle of Lord Ii. Senior retainer Sait Kageyu tells Hanshiro the tale of Squire Chijiiwa Motome, another samurai from the same clan who had visited with the same request the previous year in 1634. Suspecting that he was bluffing in order to obtain money, Ii's retainers scheduled the ritual immediately with Omodaka Hikokur acting as second. Motome begged for one more day and 3 ry to treat his sick wife and child. His request was refused, so he began to perform seppuku ineffectively with his bamboo sword, breaking it inside his stomach. Omodaka insisted that he should cut himself more but Sait eventually chopped off his head to end the suffering.

Sait offers to forget the request but Hanshiro insists on continuing with the ritual. He requests Omodaka as his second, but he cannot be found. His next two requests as second, Matsuzaki and Kawabe, cannot be found either. Hanshiro tells them that in June 1617 Motome's father Chijiiwa Jinnai performed unauthorized maintenance work on the castle and was banished. He died and left Motome in the care of Tsukumo Hanshiro. In 1630, Motome married Hanshiro's daughter Miho. Her infant son fell ill and Motome sold his sword to cover costs for a while but when a doctor demanded 3 ryo in advance for treatment, Motome attempted the suicide bluff that led to his death. His son died of illness and Miho killed herself with the same broken bamboo sword after Motome's body was returned to her with 3 ryo. Disgusted at the gruesome nature of Motome's death, Hanshiro hunted down Omodaka, Matsuzaki, and Kawabe and cut off their topknots for not stopping Motome's painful death, causing them to lose face and go into hiding.

Hanshiro brings the 3 ryo back to Sait and challenges the other samurai with a bamboo sword, battling many of them capably. He says that a warrior's honor is not something just worn for show and knocks down the castle's decorative suit of armor before accepting death. Omodaka, Matsuzaki, and Kawabe all commit seppuku out of shame and the other retainers reassemble the suit of armor. Lord Ii returns to the castle and asks if the suit of armor has been polished, because it is the pride of the castle.

Cast



* Ichikawa Ebiz XI as Tsukumo Hanshiro

* Eita as Chijiiwa Motome

* Hikari Mitsushima as Miho

* Naoto Takenaka as Tajiri

* Munetaka Aoki as Omodaka Hikokur

* Hirofumi Arai as Matsuzaki Hayatonosh

* Kazuki Namioka as Kawabe Umanosuke

* Yoshihisa Amano as Sasaki

* Takehiro Hira as Ii Kamon-no-kami Naotaka

* Takashi Sasano as Ssuke

* Nakamura Baijaku II as Chijiiwa Jinnai

* Kji Yakusho as Sait Kageyu

References




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