Rikyu (1989)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Hiroshi Teshigahara

Writers:

Genpei Akasegawa (writer)
Yaeko Nogami (novel)

Release Date:

18 January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting...

Plot Keywords:

Warlord | 1500s | Japan | 1590s | Historical

Awards:

11 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Rentaro Mikuni	...	Rikyu
Yoshiko Mita	...	Riki, his wife
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Hideyoshi Toyotomi
Kyôko Kishida	...	His wife
Tanie Kitabayashi	...	His mother
Sayaka Yamaguchi	...	Chieha, his mistress
Ryo Tamura	...	Lord Hidenaga, his brother
Koshiro Matsumoto	...	Lord Oda
Kichiemon Nakamura	...	Lord Ieyasu
Yasosuke Bando	...	Mitsanari
Akira Kubo	...	Geni
Keishi Arashi	...	Orike, Rikyu's friend
Hisashi Igawa	...	Soji
Ichirô Zaitsu	...	Abbott Kokei
Hideo Kanze	...	Rikyu's brother in law

Runtime:

135 min | Sweden:115 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Sweden:7

Company:

C. Ito and Company Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Gô-hime (1992)

exquisite meditation on Japanese tea ceremony and it's importance to social and political status in medieval Japan.

This is a very Japanese and Zen Buddhist film. The observations are almost painfully clear and intense, there is great attention to detail, it is highly ritualized and formal, and moves very slowly. To be appreciated, it must be viewed as a totality, rather than as a linear story with a beginning and an end. It is a snapshot stretched over 2 hours, and very much "there". It's a lot like a Zen garden, and most Americans will probably find it boring, but if you're into the peculiar Japanese view of time, it's such a beautiful film, it almost hurts.