| Director: | Yoji Yamada | |||||||||||||||||||
| Writer: | Shuuhei Fujisawa (novels), Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama | |||||||||||||||||||
| Starring: | Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi | |||||||||||||||||||
| Released: | August 26, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: |
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Runtime: | 130 minutes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Websites: |
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Story: |
Set in the late nineteen century as the feudal Shogun period was giving way to the Meiji Restoration,
Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a low-ranking samurai of the Unasaka clan in Shonai Province of
northeast Japan. His wife has died of tuberculosis, and with two daughters, Kayano and Ito, and an
elderly mother to support, he and his family must survive in austerity. The moment his daily work
as a clerk in one of the clan's warehouses is over, he hurries home, refusing to drink or eat with
fellow samurai. Behind his back, his fellow samurai teasingly call him "Tasogare Seibei (Twilight
Seibei)." The divorce of his childhood friend Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa) leads him into a confrontation
with her violent ex-husband, a high-ranking samurai. When word of Seibei's easy victory using only
a wooden sword begins to circulate, his reputation for swordfighting prowess begins to change his
colleagues assessment of him. Just as Seibei begins to dream that despite his impoverishment he
might win the hand of the long loved Tomoe, he is caught in the shifting turmoil of the times and
is assigned, against his wishes, by his superiors to confront and kill a renowned warrior on the
wrong side of a clan power struggle. Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film 2004; Winner of 12 Japanese Academy Awards Including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cast: |
|