Review of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) by Al M — 02 Feb 2013
A remake of Masaki Kobayashi's classic film seems blasphemous at first,. but Takashi Miike approaches the project with a true veneration for his source material. Beautifully and hauntingly filmed, Miike breaks with his normally brutal filmmaking and participates fully in the tradition of meditative Japanese cinema.
A character piece more than anything else, most of Hara-Kiri's violence surprisingly takes place off-camera, and Miike instead focuses on the people, locations, emotions, and ideas. Heartbreakingly dark and political, Miike explores the themes of love, greed, and honor in ways that are both comparable to Kobayashi's film and original to this reimagining.
A literally eviscerating critique of an entire society's ethos, Hara-Kiri is also a profound exploration of what it means to be human and to love one another.
This review of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) was written by Al M on 02 Feb 2013.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai has generally received positive reviews.
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