Review of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) by A.j. E — 21 Jul 2012
Eh. Nothing groundbreaking here. Just a solid piece of heightened drama that is typical for this genre of Japanese cinema: the deliberate pacing, which forces the audience to linger in the suffering that occurs on screen (and there's plenty), the stilted acting and dialogue, and a thoroughly satisfying climax of brilliant swordplay - everything that the primary audience (the Japanese) of this film craves.
Westerners expecting to tolerate 'some' drama interspersed with bursts of Zatoichi type action will be sorely disappointed. This is formula Japanese 'soap' but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
As far as soaps go, this is as good as they come, and more.
This review of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) was written by A.j. E on 21 Jul 2012.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai has generally received positive reviews.
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