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Samurai Fiction Actors: Morio Kazama, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Tomoyasu Hotei Director: Hiroyuki Nakano Number of Items: 1 Format: Color Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 111 minutes Studio: Media Blasters, Inc Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-09-30 Buy from Amazon |
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From Description Heishiro, a noble Samurai, sets out in search of the renegade who stole his clan’s treasure and killed his best friend. Heishiro should be able to hold his own against the villain Rannosuke, who has only killed hundreds of men and fought entire armies while simultaneously defending himself against dozens of deadly ninja assassins. This is Samurai Fiction. Don’t believe everything you see in Chambara movies! |
 "Tomoyasu Hotei is so Kuuru!"A new bar has been set for the nomination of "coolest actor alive." Bruce Willis? Nah. John Travolta? Ferggedaboudit. Tomoyasu Hotei, the anti-hero or "Samurai Fiction", is a force of nature in this pop comedy-drama Samurai epic. He isn't given a lot of dialogue, but his 6' 2" lean angular presence, intensity and eyebrow-twitching expressions steal scenes from the remainder of the capable cast, including a mime artist (the main character). And Hotei did all the music, which is a fine rock score, and not for nothing is a Hotei tune included in "Kill Bill, Vol. 1.". He is pretty handy with a katana, too. Hotei may be the Next Big cross-over star from Japan. And check out a clip from his music video in the "special features." Who else can do this? The movie includes samurai duels, ninjas, and modernist shots one can see in Tarantino, red, B&W. It is not particularly gory (unlike Tarantino), and has an interesting little moral message about non-violence toward the end of the film (way not Tarantino). Like Tarantino, there is a declared effort to not take things too seriously and maintain a high "coolness" quotionent (Hotei's sidekick in the movie gets to exclaim the word at length.) This is a very creative and fun take of a Samurai period-piece.  "A pleasant blend of old and new."Samurai Fiction begins in the year 1999. Inukai Heishiro-san (Fukikoshi Mitsuru) speaks to us from the great beyond about his life as a young samurai in feudal Japan. As he tells us how his life was changed by his encounter with two ronin, we are carried back in time from the present to the past, from color to monochrome, digital to analog, until we find Heishiro practicing fencing among giant shoots of bamboo. It's important to remember that Samurai Fiction is not a return to the period classics of Kurosawa and the like. Rather, it is an homage to that genre, full of references and allusions and humor. If you prefer dour, scowling celluloid samurai--well, you can find them here, but this might not be the film for you. The plot is deceptively simple. The villian of the piece, the "cool samurai" Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei), presents unexpected depth as he goes from rescuing a father and daughter from a band of brigands and finding an honored place in the Inukai clan, to stealing the clan's treasured heirloom sword, to falling in and out with the yakuza. Likewise, Heishiro, a brash young man, takes it upon himself to recover the clan's stolen property and honor against his father's wishes. He is eventually turned from his self-destructive path by the "peaceful samurai", Mizoguchi Hanbei (Kazama Morio) and his engaging daughter, Koharu (Ogawa Tamaki). Along the way there are conspiracies, sword fights, gangsters, and nose bleeds. Oh, yeah -- and ninja. The score, also created by Tomoyasu Hotei (late of Kill Bill fame), is unusual for a period movie, with growling electric guitars and burbling synthesizers. It's tongue-in-cheek, sometimes startling, and punctuates the rock-and-roll sensibility of the director, Nakano Hiroyuki. No, it's not Noh. Nor is it Kurosawa. But it is loads of fun. In its promotional material it is described as "peaceful, funky, and cool", and if that doesn't create a strange set of expectations for a samurai flick, nothing will. "Sweet funny Samurai flick"Cute and funny, sweet and charming. A very entertaining film. I would recommend this film to anyone. "Wow! Amazingly good!"First of all, I have got to say that this film was long, and I enjoyed every single second of it. If you don't know what to expect, this film may be a little shocking at first, combining a classic look of black and white film with campy comedy and a very modern soundtrack. Its certainly an artsy film and a great tribute to old samurai films. "Not your average samurai movie, funny, cool"A good friend of mine recommended this to me and I checked it out. The film's own PR is "a samurai movie for the MTV generation" -- I think we're talking the early days of MTV, not "Road Rules" or "Cribs" MTV. This is a lively, funny movie that pokes fun of the genre while proposing new virtues of the samurai world (family, integrity, and --most important -- coolness). There are a lot of unusual casting choices made -- all of them very good choices. Having rock star Hotei Tomoyasu as the "villain" was a brilliant move. He has a very minimal style, but he really is fun to watch. The other great choice is Natsuki Maki as the gangster boss O-katsu. As the costume designer says in the extra features, "Women have 2 times when they really blossom: when they're young, first budding; right before they die out, they bloom gorgeously." That's Natsuki Maki --> she's a real joy to watch, especially when she picks up her knickers during her dances. Is this a good movie to own? I dunno. Rental maybe. The one flaw with the film is that it is too long; it tells the story, essentially, of 3 samurai when you wish it would tell 1 character's story at a time. Maybe the "2nd SF" movie "Red Shadow" does a better job. Definitely a fun rental. Last note: The soundtrack is great. Hotei's music (obtainable on "Electric Samurai") contains many songs from the movie plus others (Kill Bill "Battle ...Honor"); I wish I could get my hands on the whole Samurai Fiction soundtrack though. It's very lyrical. |
