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Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto, 1954
Tazeko (Toshiro Mifune) and Matahachi (Rentarô Mikuni) are fighters who find themselves on the losing side of a battle between two large clan groups. On the run, they end up in the care of a widow and her daughter. While Matahachi has a betrothed waiting for him back home, Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa), he ultimately runs off with the two women. It is Tazeko who returns home, only to face a village that is hostile and suspicious of him. Only a local priest, Takuan (Kuroemon Onoe) seems interested in justice.
This is a fun, frothy mixture of action-adventure, romance, and drama. It serves well as its own story, but also in setting up the trilogy of which it is the first part.
There is something really engaging about the different cycles of disillusionment, awareness, and enlightenment that the main characters go through, and how they meet at different points in those cycles. Tazeko begins the film in a bitter mindset, having been part of the losing side in the big battle. Abandoned by Matahachi, Tazeko returns home only to find himself unwelcome. Faced with Matahachi’s mother and fiance, Otsu, Tazeko cannot bring himself to say that Matahachi has run off with the widow and abandoned them. And on Otsu’s side of things, she waits faithfully for Matahachi, eventually realizing that Tazeko has been shielding her from that heartbreak.
The evolving relationship between Tazeko and Otsu is really sweet, all full of youthful idealism, misery, and passion. It’s even more enjoyable the way that it is framed as taking place under the knowing eye of Takuan, the wise priest. “I don’t know much about love,” he demurs at one point, despite having basically played matchmaker between Tazeko and Otsu. When the young people are heading into rash decisions, you get the sense that he’s always one step ahead of them, either allowing their actions or gently steering them off-course when needed.
The movie also looks pretty good, making great use of color. We get lush green forests, and dark shadowed barns. We get a lovely shot of long reels of fabric being washed in the ocean like long jellyfish tendrils. I particularly loved a shot of the fugitive Tazeko emerging from the night blue dark woods into the warm light of a fire where Otsu and Takuan wait.
The performances are all very good. Mifune was always good at playing characters who are skilled, but also have something to learn. Yachigusa is very sweet as Otsu, and she is easy to root for as she unpacks the way that Matahachi’s betrayal has impacted her. Onoe is a lot of fun as the priest who gently but firmly points the lovers away from danger and toward each other.
A fun action-romance that definitely leaves you ready for the rest of the series.
Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto, 1954
Tazeko (Toshiro Mifune) and Matahachi (Rentarô Mikuni) are fighters who find themselves on the losing side of a battle between two large clan groups. On the run, they end up in the care of a widow and her daughter. While Matahachi has a betrothed waiting for him back home, Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa), he ultimately runs off with the two women. It is Tazeko who returns home, only to face a village that is hostile and suspicious of him. Only a local priest, Takuan (Kuroemon Onoe) seems interested in justice.
This is a fun, frothy mixture of action-adventure, romance, and drama. It serves well as its own story, but also in setting up the trilogy of which it is the first part.
There is something really engaging about the different cycles of disillusionment, awareness, and enlightenment that the main characters go through, and how they meet at different points in those cycles. Tazeko begins the film in a bitter mindset, having been part of the losing side in the big battle. Abandoned by Matahachi, Tazeko returns home only to find himself unwelcome. Faced with Matahachi’s mother and fiance, Otsu, Tazeko cannot bring himself to say that Matahachi has run off with the widow and abandoned them. And on Otsu’s side of things, she waits faithfully for Matahachi, eventually realizing that Tazeko has been shielding her from that heartbreak.
The evolving relationship between Tazeko and Otsu is really sweet, all full of youthful idealism, misery, and passion. It’s even more enjoyable the way that it is framed as taking place under the knowing eye of Takuan, the wise priest. “I don’t know much about love,” he demurs at one point, despite having basically played matchmaker between Tazeko and Otsu. When the young people are heading into rash decisions, you get the sense that he’s always one step ahead of them, either allowing their actions or gently steering them off-course when needed.
The movie also looks pretty good, making great use of color. We get lush green forests, and dark shadowed barns. We get a lovely shot of long reels of fabric being washed in the ocean like long jellyfish tendrils. I particularly loved a shot of the fugitive Tazeko emerging from the night blue dark woods into the warm light of a fire where Otsu and Takuan wait.
The performances are all very good. Mifune was always good at playing characters who are skilled, but also have something to learn. Yachigusa is very sweet as Otsu, and she is easy to root for as she unpacks the way that Matahachi’s betrayal has impacted her. Onoe is a lot of fun as the priest who gently but firmly points the lovers away from danger and toward each other.
A fun action-romance that definitely leaves you ready for the rest of the series.