The Twilight Samurai is available on limited edition Blu-ray from Twilight Time
Hiroyuki Sanada’s Seibei Iguchi stands shoulder to shoulder amongst cinema’s all time greatest protagonists. Sidled with a challenging lot in life, Seibei is a lower rung samurai whose wife died of consumption and left him with two young daughters and a mentally ill mother to care for. We’re sympathetic to his situation almost immediately, but it is Sanada’s (The Wolverine, 47 Ronin, Sunshine) characterization of Seibei, fleshed out through Yoji Yamada and Yoshitaka Asama’s screenplay (based on novels featuring the character written by Shuhei Fujisawa), that cause us to empathize with Seibei as well. And just as soon as we begin to feel that empathy deeply, Seibei himself ensures us that we need not be troubled by his plight. He is a man content to delight in his family, fulfill his official duties, and work hard to ensure his daughters a bright future. Seibei is a man of exceptional character, and, it turns out, exceptional skill. But you’d never know it from his own lips, nor from his esteem in the community.
Chided for always rushing home to his familial duties after work, Seibei’s samurai compatriots mockingly dub him “Twilight” Seibei. His lack of concern for the way his co-workers view him seems to only urge them on further. But when a good friend confides that he’s had to oversee the divorce of his sister from an abusive, drunken, high ranking samurai, a new path is laid before Seibei. The return of Miss Tomoe (the radiant Rie Miyazawa) to Seibei’s town, and her forthright affection for his daughters, seems to offer a future for Seibei that he dare not even dream about for fear that it might not come to pass. And when Tomoe’s ex-husband challenges Seibei to a duel, he is forced, for the first time of many, to choose between societal expectations of honor, and his responsibility to provide for his beloved daughters and mother who have no one but him to look out for them.
While my own love for The Twilight Samurai has almost entirely to do with the humanistic and familial elements of the story, and the wish that I could grow up to be Seibei someday, with his wise bearing and warm heart, as well as his quiet confidence and laudable character, it is the outside forces surrounding the Iguchi family (forces beyond even the formidable Seibei’s control) which propel this movie from merely “wonderful” into greatness. Set amidst a tumultuous 19th century Japanese backdrop, where the way of the samurai is coming to a close and modernity is threatening to break through, society as Seibei has known it is on the verge of collapse. And it is precisely because of his honor-bound duty to a clan that undervalues him that he must repeatedly risk his own safety for causes outside of his own desires, even if they may be losing causes. While everyone around Seibei is seeking to position themselves for upward mobility and advancement, he is content to simply provide for and educate his daughters. Yet the upward mobility so many seek, and so many chide Seibei for not having an interest in, may not be a possibility when the very Shogunate system they are a part of is collapsing all around them.
Equal parts achingly romantic and thoroughly practical, The Twilight Samurai tugs at viewers’ emotions to satisfying effect, while also exploring the challenges of 19th Century Japanese life in a way that feels remarkably potent, even to this 21st century American. It should perhaps not surprise anyone to learn that The Twilight Samurai was written and directed by Yoji Yamada in his early 70s. Such a measured and confident film, which is just as much about the end of things as it is about the beginning of something beautiful, could perhaps only have come from a seasoned professional like Yamada was in 2002. Although he has over 80 directing credits and over 100 writing credits on IMDb, and he is best known for a substantial series of comedic films featuring a character named Tora-San, it is The Twilight Samurai which netted him a best foreign film Oscar nod as well as something along the lines of 12 awards at the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Awards. Of his 80-some films, I’ve only ever seen the loose trilogy of samurai films that Yamada made over the first decade of the 2000s, of which The Twilight Samurai is the first. The Hidden Blade and Love And Honor would come next, and all are highly recommended. Although perhaps only The Twilight Samurai stands as an all time great, due in large part to Sanada’s interpretation of Seibei as established by Yamada. Whether you consider yourself a fan of Japanese cinema or not, whether you’ve ever even seen a samurai film before or not, The Twilight Samurai is above all a deeply human film which had the ability to break out to international audiences and touch viewers on a more accessible level than perhaps any other samurai film of this or any generation.
The Package
A beautiful film, in spite of being far more about characters and small moments than it is about splendor or spectacle, Twilight Time does a solid job of presenting cinematographer Mutsuo Naganuma’s work. There’s still plenty of grain on the image, which is an aesthetic element that I enjoy, although some might see it as overly grainy. And there are some night shots in the film that don’t look entirely right, but I believe that comes from the technology used at the time of shooting and has nothing to do with the digital transfer here.
This release is largely “film only”, although Twilight Time does include all of their standard signatures, such as an isolated score track, as well as an insightful liner essay from Julie Kirgo (which I always recommend reading when checking out a Twilight Time title). There’s also an original trailer for the film, and that is all she wrote.
Perhaps the most important element about this release is its selection by the Twilight Time label. In the past year Cinapse has been able to cover the releases of dozens of Twilight Time titles, and I’ve personally come to trust their tastes in curating a formidable library of great titles. From beloved classics to films I had never heard of before, I’ve found value in every Twilight Time release I’ve taken the time to watch. So when it comes to The Twilight Samurai, just to own one of the greatest films made in my lifetime, period, on a beautiful Blu-ray, is all the incentive I need to wholeheartedly recommend this release, even if there aren’t a ton of bonus features to distinguish this unique samurai tale as a “definitive” home edition.
And I’m Out.