Usually, the end of the samurai era is seen as a violent and cynical time where men are wolves. Well, The Last Samurai chooses a different way where some samurais are wise enough to see beyond their own beliefs and so, to become friends. For his last film, Misumi shows (again) the human side of the samurai. A masterpiece!
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Great film. I review it in my new book (out now, available on Amazon). This was Kenji Misumi’s final film, a chambara tour de force, an epic, spanning the bloody Bakumatsu period and extending some years past the Meiji Restoration, allowing us to see just how radically things changed following the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Hideki Takahashi is great in the lead, and Ken Ogata almost steals the show as a furious, flashing blade who farts when he fights. Famous, real-life samurai mix with fictitious characters for a heady blend of action and historical intrigue. I can’t recommend this film enough.