Sunday, May 16, 2004

Twilight Samurai

The TWILIGHT SAMURAI was in the official competition of the Berlin Film Festival in 2003 and one of the films that the ecumenical jury (of which I was privileged to be a member) considered for a prize. Michael Winterbottom's IN THIS WORLD won out (a pseudo-documentary about a displaced Afghan living in a refugee camp in Pakistan who travels to the UK illegally and obtains residency until his 18th birthday) but this lovely Japanese hisorical romance was a contender.

Not all the samurai were wealthy, and Seibei struggles to fulfill his destiny as a samurai though poor and without material goods to offer a prospective wife as his first wife has died, leaving him with two little daughters. He overcomes many obstacles with gentle honor, marries a good woman of a higher class who truly cares for him and the children.

I won't give away the ending ... This is a lovely film. Don't let the subtitles deter you.

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