Review: Harakiri.

Harakiri is a legendary jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars the equally as legendary actor Tatsuya Nakadai in the lead, supported by Rentaro Mikuni, Akira Ishihama, and Shima Iwashita.

The film revolves around a washed-up samurai named Tsugomo Hanshiro, who arrives at a lord's manor requesting to perform harakiri in his court, and explains to an audience of retainers the events that led up to the present.

Originally, I was gonna wait a day so I could watch the remake and review both but man...this film was awesome. I couldn't let my thoughts sizzle out overnight.

First off, this film is very visually beautiful. Maybe it's just a thing unique to films from the 60s but I just loved all the long still shots that rarely utilize angles and zooms in only a handful of times. The wind looks incredible, I really love how they made it more than just the sound of wind gushing when they used it.

Secondly, I just really enjoy the writing and plot and all of the related. It's such a simple and straightforward film, I'm not the brightest of film watchers but I understood every second of it. I was thoroughly invested from start to finish and while I did know where the film would be going to an extent, the twists and turns kept me on my toes throughout and kept me wondering where the film would go next.

I really love Nakadai's performance in Harakiri, he really elevates the film a bunch and his acting is incredible. I saw his performance described as "Mifune-like" and I have to agree, he not only has this commanding presence throughout that makes me laser focused on him and only him, he's so good at portraying the emotions Tsugomo is going through.

The anger, the sorrow, the grief, feels so alive and real. It doesn't feel like I'm watching Nakadai play a depressed samurai, it feels like I'm watching a real depressed samurai, like I went back in time and I'm watching the events of the film go down in front of my very eyes, that's how much he brings his character to life.

And I feel the same for Ishihama, while he isn't as good as Nakadai here I loved his performance near equally. While he isn't as full of emotion, I did enjoy how well he portrayed the fear of his character. The fear, anguish, and the sweat looked as real as it could.

The action, while barely in the film, is great when it does appear. It's tense, taking 10-20 seconds for someone to swing their blade. It's beautiful to look at, it's more realistic dueling than what you'd see in a majority of samurai films, and I place it high up along with the action of other films with one guy taking on 10 enemy samurai and winning.

In my opinion, the action reflects the film. It's slow, but not slow enough to not keep you invested. It keeps you (or at least for me) on your toes to see what'll happen next as it's predictable. And it's also brutal.

Bloody, slow, lot to take in kinda brutal. The story is extremely tragic, leaving me feeling genuine sympathy for Tsugomo and his family, which is a rarity for me when watching films. 

Compared to most samurai films I'm aware of Harakiri stands out as it relies primarily on it's story instead of i's action, rarely utilizing it until the very end of the film. Nakadai's performance on it's own is filled with more emotion and feels more human than the majority of jidaigeki protagonists I've seen who are cold and brutal killing machines who exhibit little to no feeling.

I cannot recommend Harakiri enough, it deserves its ranking among the best films ever made. If you're skeptical if it lives up to the hype, trust me, it does. It's a true 10/10 film.

That's all for now, Love and Peace!