SF: Episode One (1998)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Hiroyuki Nakano

Writers:

Hiroyuki Nakano (writer)
Hiroshi Saitô (writer)

Release Date:

1 August 1998 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Three centuries ago, a precious sword has been stolen by Kazamatsuri -- the sword, which historic and...

Plot Keywords:

Sword | Samurai | Shogun | Ninja | Revenge

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Morio Kazama	...	Hanbei Mizoguchi
Mitsuru Fukikoshi	...	Heishiro Inukai
Tomoyasu Hotei	...	Rannosuke Kazamatsuri
Tamaki Ogawa	...	Koharu Mizoguchi
Mari Natsuki	...	Okatsu
Taketoshi Naitô	...	Kanzen Inukai (as Taketoshi Naitoh)
Kei Tani	...	Kagemaru
Fumiya Fujii	...	Ryunosuke Kuzumi
Naoyuki Fujii	...	Shintarô Suzuki
Ken Osawa	...	Tadasuke Kurosawa
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Gosuke
Ryoichi Yuki	...	Ninja Hayabusa
Akiko Monou	...	Ninja Akakage
Taro Maruse	...	Sakyounosuke Kajii
Yuji Nakamura	...	Samejima

Also Known As:

SF: Episode One - Samurai Fiction (closing credits title)
Samurai Fiction (USA)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Finland:S | Singapore:PG

Trivia:

The sword that is stolen in this film was borrowed from the estate of 'Toshiro Mifune'. It was one of his personal swords.

Quotes:

Kanzen Inukai: Kagemaru!
[Kagemaru drops down from a hatch in the ceiling]
Kagemaru: Hai!
Kanzen Inukai: You don't have to enter through the ceiling, you know.
Kagemaru: I'm sorry, but as an old ninja, I don't really know how to enter from anywhere else.

Movie Connections:

Spin off Red Shadow: Akakage (2001)

Soundtrack:

Swanee River

Old Style Samurai Action With A New-Fangled Soundtrack!

SAMURAI FICTION (4 outta 5 stars) What a terrific movie! It's described as a comedy but, while it does have a lot of humour in it, I think it holds up pretty well with any of the classic samurai stories. The movie is in black and white (with select use of colored images throughout) and I found the visual style very reminiscent of early Kurosawa. In fact, if I had been told that this was an early Kurosawa movie I would have believed it completely. Except for the soundtrack, that is! As old fashioned as the look of the movie is, it has a very modern rock soundtrack by the great Tomayasu Hotei (you know his music from "Kill Bill"). Tomayasu even co-stars in the movie.. playing Kazamatsuri, the badass samurai who steals a clan's revered ceremonial sword and triggers some strong (violent) emotions. After nearly killing a trio of young men bent on recovering the sword, Kazamatsuri becomes obsessed with fighting a peace-loving samurai master who has given up the idea of violence and killing. But maybe he will change his tune if his daughter is threatened...? Great plot, great performances... the actual swordplay may seem a little less flashy than most modern epics but its still exciting stuff, especially when backed by Tomayasu's stirring rock score! The soundtrack might be the one thing that puts people off this movie... personally I didn't find it distracting or "wrong" at all. The old-style movie directing and the "MTV Music" style melded perfectly.