Tasogare Seibei (2002)

Director:

Yôji Yamada

Writers:

Shûhei Fujisawa (novels)
Yôji Yamada (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 November 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A 19th-century samurai tries to protect a battered wife.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Widower | Duel | Sheath | Seppuku

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 37 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Seibei Iguchi
Rie Miyazawa	...	Tomoe Iinuma
Nenji Kobayashi	...	Choubei Kusaka
Ren Ôsugi	...	Toyotarou Kouda
Mitsuru Fukikoshi	...	Michinojo Iinuma
Kanako Fukaura
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Naota
Miki Itô	...	Kayano Iguchi
Erina Hashiguchi	...	Ito Iguchi
Reiko Kusamura	...	Iguchi's Mother
Setsuko Tanaka
Kii Mizuno
Yuuki Natsusaka
Astushi Maeda
Tsukasa Sugawara
Kôichi Taniguchi
Teruhiko Tanaka
Takako Miyashima
Sachiko Takada
Mayu Komori
Astushi Yoshikawa
Kenji Yoshida
Takashi Yamazaki
Shinya Amako
Rio Ishino
Norio Satou
Keishi Arashi
Baijaku Nakamura
Makoto Akatsuka
Masahiro Satô
Senri Sakurai
Masayasu Kitayama
Toshinori Omi
Shinjiro Nakamura
Min Tanaka	...	Zenemon Yogo
Keiko Kishi	...	Ito
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Tozaemon Iguchi

Directed by
Yôji Yamada

Writing credits
Shûhei Fujisawa		(novels "Tasogare Seibei", "Chikkou Shiatsu" and "Iwaibito Sukehachi")
Yôji Yamada		(screenplay) and
Yoshitaka Asama		(screenplay)

Produced by
Hiroshi Fukazawa	....	producer
Tomiyasu Ishikawa	....	executive producer
Tetsuo Kan	....	executive producer
Tomoo Miyakawa	....	executive producer
Shigehiro Nakagawa	....	producer
Toshio Ogiwara	....	executive producer
Motoyuki Oka	....	executive producer
Nobuyoshi Ôtani	....	executive producer
Ichirô Yamamoto	....	producer

Original Music by
Isao Tomita

Cinematography by
Mutsuo Naganuma

Film Editing by
Iwao Ishii

Production Design by
Mitsuo Degawa

Art Direction by
Yoshinobu Nishioka

Costume Design by
Kazuko Kurosawa

Production Management
Takakazu Aiba	....	production manager
Yoshinori Aso	....	production manager
Junichi Mine	....	unit manager
Motohiko Saitou	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kinichi Hanawa	....	assistant director
Emiko Hiramatsu	....	trainee assistant director

Sound Department
Kazumi Kishida	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Miho Kimbara	....	assistant camera
Genken Nakaoka	....	lighting designer

Music Department
Yôsui Inoue	....	composer: theme song "Kimerareta Rizumu"

Other crew
Hiroshi Kuze	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Eisei Gekijo Company
• Hakuhodo
• Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K.
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)
• Shochiku Company
• Sumitomo Corporation

Special Effects

• Nippon Effect Center (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Continental Far East  Dolby consultant
• Ekuran Engi Shudan  extras
• Gekidan Mugi No Kai  extras
• Japan Action Enterprise Co. Ltd.  extras
• Kodak Japan  film stock supplied by
• Koei Shinsha  camera equipment supplied by
• Office Big  extras
• Shochiku Gekino Kyoto Yoseijo  extras
• Shochiku Music Publishing  music production
• Shochiku Sound Studio  post-production sound services
• Shochiku Sound Studio  recording studio
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  film processing
• Tokyo TV Center  sound optical printing

Also Known As:

The Twilight Samurai (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:129 min | USA:129 min | Argentina:129 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Eisei Gekijo Company

Quotes:

Ito: With a sick wife, two young daughters and an aged mother in his care, my father was unable to drink with his colleagues. He had to hurry home every evening at dusk. I was told the men he worked with gave him the cruel nickname of 'Twilight Seibei'.

Movie Connections:

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

Great Impressionist Film-making

I saw this film last night with my nephew, and chose it simply because the title was interesting and it was playing at the local art house, so I gave it a shot. As I am a bit disillusioned by the Oscars these days I don't pay much attention to them, I was unaware that this film was a huge success in Japan and received a Best Foreign Film nomination. What I received in return for my curiosity was one of the best foreign films that I have seen in a long, long time.

The crux of the film is the relationship between personal honor and social honor. Iguchi is indeed a most honorable man. He truly loves his children and his senile mother, and sacrifices his dignity and station to care for them. He works from dawn to dusk, attending his duties with the court by day and working on his farm by night, somehow finding time to also sell handmade insect/bird cages just to help his family get by. He does all this even though it soon becomes apparent that he has no equal as a swordsman, and in that right alone deserves the respect of those who deride him. We come to understand that selfless sacrifice is the single greatest act of honor, especially when one can still consider himself a blessed man. However, the personal honor that Iguchi wields even more skillfully than his sword becomes at odds with the social honor that his status as a samurai calls for. This conundrum is the heart of almost every scene in the film, and reaches its peak as the story moves toward its climax. Though Iguchi tells his best friend that he would gladly surrender his status as a samurai to become a simple farmer, he finds himself unable to resist his call to duty under the code of the samurai. He knows that to be honorable in his duty as a samurai, he must compromise his honor as a man. How can he kill a man to fulfill the unjust motives of his clan, especially when the man he is fighting is so much like himself?

The direction of the film is beautifully impressionist. Yamada crafts pictures of everyday life which gives us an inherent understanding of the life of Iguchi. In one scene, he sits dejectedly on his doorstep after coming home in the rain, lamenting the holes in his socks while his squire stands outside in the downpour. In another, he quietly applies his perfectionism to the construction of his cages in his dark and dirty living room while his family sleeps. In yet another, he shares a meal with his family as they laugh and enjoy each other's company. Yamada's eye for imagery, in combination with his patient and subtle storytelling, are reminiscent of great impressionist directors such as Ozu, Tarkovsky, and Malick. There are many other memorable images in this film, many of which depict the duality of nature. In one scene we see soldiers learning to fire rifles under the spring buds of a lotus tree. In another we see men fishing along a sapphire blue river, with golden fields behind them and a stunning, snow-capped Mount Fuji on the horizon-- and the bodies of starved peasant children floating down the river.

This is a great film. See it.