HARAKIRI Movie Review

Seppuku

In 17th-century Japan, following the downfall of a number of powerful clans, the samurai who once held allegiance to these families were now unemployed and without masters. These masterless samurai, or ronin, had no means by which to support themselves but were nevertheless expected to live by the same code of honor they were bound by previously. Masaki Kobayashi's wrenching, thoroughly gripping Harakiri is the story of one aspect of the hypocrisy of such codes, which—as many periods throughout history have demonstrated—tend to be applied disproportionately to the detriment of the weak and the powerless. Though Harakiri is presented in the guise of the traditional—albeit exceptionally elegant—sword picture, it is a piece of social criticism as bitter and stinging as they come. Tatsuya Nakadai (Yojimbo, Fires on the Plain) is galvanizing as the ronin who explains his tragic family saga—in a series flashbacks—to the increasingly anxious, sadistic old warlords who are his intended victims. (The term harakiri, or “stomach-cut,” is actually a vulgarized term for the traditional Japanese suicide ritual of seppuku. You'll know all about it by the end of this film.) The score is by the brilliant Toru Takemitsu; the gleaming, widescreen black-and-white cinematography by Yoshio Miyajima is best seen in a letterboxed format.

NEXT STOP … Rebellion (a.k.a. Samurai Rebellion), Yojimbo, The Human Condition

1962 135m/B Hisashi Igawa, Yoshio Inaba, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Rentaro Mikuni, Masao Mishima, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tetsuro Tamba, Shichisaburo Amatsu, Yoshio Aoki, Jo Azumi, Akiji Kobayashi, Ichiro Nakaya, Kei Sato, Ryo Takeuchi; D:Masaki Kobayashi; W:Shinobu Hashimoto, Yasuhiko Takiguchi; C:Yoshio Miyajima; M:Toru Takemitsu. NYR