Seppuku (1962)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Yasuhiko Takiguchi (story)

Release Date:

4 August 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Hara Kiri | Revenge | Poverty | Suicide

Awards:

8 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Hanshiro Tsugumo
Rentaro Mikuni	...	Kageyu Saito
Shima Iwashita	...	Miho Tsugumo
Akira Ishihama	...	Motome Chijiiwa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shichisaburo Amatsu	...	Retainer
Yoshio Aoki	...	Umenosuke Kawabe
Jo Azumi	...	Ichiro Shimmen
Hisashi Igawa	...	Retainer
Yoshio Inaba	...	Jinai Chijiiwa
Akiji Kobayashi		(as Shôji Kobayashi)
Masao Mishima	...	Tango Inaba
Ichirô Nakaya	...	Hayato Yazaki
Kei Sato	...	Masakazu
Ryo Takeuchi	...	Retainer
Tetsuro Tamba	...	Hikokuro Omodaka

Also Known As:

Harakiri (USA)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X | France:U | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo

Trivia:

Seppuku and harakiri (the US working title) both mean to commit ritual suicide in Japanese. However, seppuku is the formal term, derived from the kanji characters for "hara" (belly) and "kiri" (cut); harakiri is the cruder, less polite term for this act.

Quotes:

Hanshiro Tsugumo: After all, this thing we call samurai honor is ultimately nothing but a facade.

200 Proof

This film is the purest distillation of the spirit of Greek tragedy ever put on celluloid. Yes, this is a review of Seppuku, a Japanese film released in 1962. Perhaps it took a non-Westerner, free of all of the cultural baggage and ridiculous associations, to see straight into the heart of the tragic mode and make it palpable and alive in the twentieth century. That is not all: the black and white cinematography is both formally assured and often outrageously daring; the soundtrack is one of the finest efforts of the greatest Japanese composer of the 20th century (or any century for that matter); the acting is demonically inspired; and the narrative is relentlessly gripping and involving. The film illuminates the relationship between the individual and society and between society and history. It is a tender meditation on familial love and the ties of friendship that transcend even death. This film will cut open your bowels, pull your soul out, and force you to stare it in the face. There may be other films that attain similar heights, but I cannot imagine any film, ever, being more perfect. Forget Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, the Godfather, etc. etc. all of those commodified canonical works that everybody raves about because everybody else is raving about them. Don't get me wrong, they're fine--but this stuff is 200 proof. See it today. Buy it yesterday.