Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 3D - Film Review

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In the remake of the 1962 Hara-Kiri film, which received the Special Jury Award and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at 1963 Cannes Film Festival, Japanese auteur Takashi Miike once again demonstrated his outstanding skill in handling the tradition of Japanese films. A contrast from his earlier internationally acclaimed remake of an action-packed samurai tale of '13 Assassins', Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai is restrained and character-derived. The story is told in flashbacks in a slow-moving pace, allowing each character to fully develop so that the climax of each character's scene becomes unbearably emotional and excruciatingly painful.


Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai is set during the peaceful time of Japan's feudal era in the 17th century. Compelled by poverty, a young samurai (Motome) performs hara-kiri (a ritual suicide) with a bamboo sword in the courtyard of the house of Li. The pursuit for vengeance and the quest for moral legitimacy of the samurai code in the house of Li brings the older samurai (Hanshiro) to the same courtyard where Motome suffers a mortifying death.


More of a drama than an action film, the main actors (Ebizo Ichikawa as Hanshiro, Eita as Motome, Hikari Mitsushima as Miho) give an outstanding and convincing performance. The silence in between the delivery of the script is very effective and anticipates the drama. The music, on the other hand, creates sober mood. Moreover, the English subtitle is easy to follow. The only doubt in this film is most probably the effectiveness of the 3D format. While it sometimes creates illusion of depth, it does not necessarily add a massive effect to the overall quality of the spatial relations within frames, rather it seems to make the images darker due to the tint of the 3D glasses. Other than this, the film is commendable but be ready to get distraught by the legend of heroism, vengeance, and sacrifice.

The Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai opens March 21 in selected 3D cinemas. Running time: 126 minutes


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