Samurai Rebellion [Criterion Collection]

Director: Masaki Kobayashi Masaki Kobayashi

Overview

A father and son prepare to die for their beliefs in this historical drama set in 18th century Japan. While Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mifune) has been loyal to Japan's feudal system all his life, his beliefs begin to change when the local rulers demand that his son Yogoro (Go Kato) give up his bride, who has bore a child that will come to power upon the death of the current ruler. Yogoro dearly loves his wife, and Isaburo respects his daughter-in-law and does not want to be separated from his grandson. When Yogoro refuses to part with his wife and child, he and Isaburo are ordered to kill themselves. They refuse and instead challenge the forces of the feudal leaders to a fight to the death. Director Masaki Kobayashi's work on this film earned him the FIPRESCI Award at the 1967 Venice Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/04/2005
UPC:	0037429210024
Original Release:	1967
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00
Sales rank:	12,518

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer; Excerpt from a 1993 interview with director Masaki Kobayashi; Original theatrical trailer; New and improved English subtitle translation; Plus: a new essay by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Toshiro Mifune	Isaburo Sasahara
Yoko Tsukasa	Ichi Sasahara
Tatsuyoshi Ehara	Bunzo Sasahara
Etsuko Ichihara	Kiku
Isao Yamagata	Shobei Tsuchiya
Tatsuya Nakadai	Tatewaki Asano
Tsuyoshi Kato	Yogoro,Actor,Yogoro
Shigeru Koyama	Steward Takahashi
Masao Mishima	Chamberlain Yanase
Tatsuya Ebara	Bunzo
Michiko Otsuka	Suga
Tatsuo Matsumura	Lord Matsudaira
Takamaru Sasaki	Kenmotsu Sasahara
Jun Hamamura	Hyoemon Shiomi
Tatsuo Matsumara	Lord Matsudaira
Tôru Takemitsu	Composer

Technical Credits

Shinobu Hashimoto

Masaki Kobayashi	Director
Tomoyuki Tanaka	Producer,Executive Producer
Toshirô Mifune	Producer
Shinobu Hashimoto	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Samurai Rebellion
1. Opening Credits [5:32]
2. Duty, Honor, Family [6:28]
3. Isaburo Pushes Back [4:51]
4. Lady Ichi [4:19]
5. Retirement [5:06]
6. Ichi's Tale [9:18]
7. Lord Kikuchiyo's Wish [4:50]
8. For Tomi [3:35]
9. Isaburo Supports Yogoro [4:43]
10. The Sasahara Family Gathers [7:58]
11. Betrayal [4:11]
12. Ichi Must Choose [2:02]
13. Surrogate [1:42]
14. The Counsel of a Friend [2:34]
15. "The Cruelest Form of Tyranny" [6:22]
16. Three Heads [4:06]
17. Tatewaki's Assignment [3:26]
18. Father to Son [4:19]
19. New Orders [10:33]
20. Isaburo Strikes [5:53]
21. Buried Lovers [2:59]
22. The Road to Edo [9:41]
23. "Marry a Man Just Like Your Father" [6:31]
24. Color Bars [:00]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Samurai Rebellion
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Masaki Kobayashi
      Play
   Trailer
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

Like his earlier masterpiece Hara-Kiri (1963), Kobayashi's film is a savage attack on the inhumanity of the absolute obedience required of samurai in the feudal society of Japan, and is executed with the same severity and formal rigor. Within the framework of the director's polemic on injustice is the moving story of Isaburo (Toshiro Mifune), a loyal subject of his lord whose many years of marital misery have made him despise that institution. When he finally sees the blissful union of his son and the lord's former concubine, it changes his life, and he comes to believe that no one, not even his lord, should have the power to dissolve it. Unlike the classic chambara structure of many samurai films, all traces of confrontation are muted for most of its duration, and violence is suppressed until it explodes in extremis after father and son refuse to turn over his wife Ichi (Yoko Tsukasa). As befits a director who spent years hand-painting the sets for Kwaidan (1964), his beautifully balanced compositions reflect his obsessive perfectionism, and like Toru Takemitsu's score for traditional Japanese instruments, they further enhance the film's gravitas.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello