| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Kôji Yakusho | ... | Shinzaemon Shimada | |
| Takayuki Yamada | ... | Shinrokuro Shimada | |
| Yûsuke Iseya | ... | Koyata Kiga | |
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Ikki Sawamura | ... | Gunjiro Mitsuhashi |
| Arata Furuta | ... | Heizo Sahara | |
| Sôsuke Takaoka | ... | Yasokichi Hioki | |
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Seiji Rokkaku | ... | Mosuke Otake |
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Kazuki Namioka | ... | Rihei Ishizuka |
| Kôen Kondô | ... | Yahachi Horii | |
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Yûma Ishigaki | ... | Gannai Higuchi |
| Masataka Kubota | ... | Shojiro Ogura | |
| Tsuyoshi Ihara | ... | Kujuro Hirayama | |
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Hiroki Matsukata | ... | Saheita Kuranaga |
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Kazue Fukiishi | ... | Tsuya / Upashi |
| Mitsuki Tanimura | ... | Chise Makino | |
In 1844, the peace of Feudal Japan is threatened by cruel Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is politically rising and getting closer to his half-brother, the shogun. After the harakiri of the Namiya clan leader, samurai Shinzaemon Shimada is summoned by the shogun's advisor Sir Doi of the Akashi Clan to listen to the tragedy of Makino Uneme, whose son and daughter-in-law have been murdered by Naritsugu. Then Sir Doi shows a woman with arms, legs and tongue severed by Naritsugu and she writes with her forearm a request to Shinza to slaughter Naritsugu and his samurai. Shinza promises to kill Naritsugu and he gathers eleven other samurais and plots a plan to attack Naritsugu in his trip back to the Akashi land. But the cunning samurai Hanbei Kitou that is responsible for the security of his master foresees Shinza's intent. Shinza decides to go with his samurai through the mountain, where they find the hunter Koyata that guides them off the mountain and joins the group. Now the thirteen men... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This film was a dark-edged delight from beginning to end when I saw it at the 2010 edition of TIFF. The audience there loved it too, breaking out into spontaneous applause during several scenes.
Solid direction by Miike, great characters, beautifully shot and simply some of the best and most intense action sequences put on film - ever! It does have it's obvious influences, such as Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", but damn, this one kicks ass mightily! You've never seen Shogun like this! And something else to point out: the sound on this film was thundering, shaking and stellar! THIS is the kind of film that reminds us why we go to a movie theatre to enjoy a film on a big screen, why we turn off our cell phones and immerse ourselves in the experience of cinema-going, as opposed to staying home on our couches.
I'll go see it again on the big screen when it hopefully returns to town - you can bet on that!