Hitokiri
- 1969
- 2h 20m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
A destitute ronin allies himself with an established clan, but its ruthless leader tries to turn him into a mindless killer.A destitute ronin allies himself with an established clan, but its ruthless leader tries to turn him into a mindless killer.A destitute ronin allies himself with an established clan, but its ruthless leader tries to turn him into a mindless killer.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaYukio Mishima's character commits seppuku and one year later, Mishima himself will commit the same way of ritual suicide.
- ConnectionsVersion of Izo (2004)
Featured review
Beautiful, very violent, complicated and effective historical drama
Gosha's last great film of the 1960's. A resolute stylist with a great sense of purpose to his films, Gosha teamed up with Shintaro Katsu (of Zatoichi fame) to produce this scathing indictment of mindless nationalist loyalty.
"Tenchu" (heavenly judgment) is the word that the loyalists to the emperor yell while assassinating enemies or "traitors" to the cause. Katsu plays up his character' simple minded allegiance to a manipulative politician all in the name of patriotic pride. Anybody who questions the politician is labeled a "traitor" and becomes an assassination target.
One of the best photographed films ever, many shots are incredible compositions of form, color and light. The fight scenes are frequent and very bloody and brutal. The blood becomes a part of the color palette Gosha uses for his images. Gorgeous and disturbing. While the personal story is simple to follow, the historical background is complicated and while a basic history lesson for this time in Japan would be very helpful you can struggle through the film without it. The few drawbacks to the film are the music track, the length and Katsu's occasional scenery chewing. He has a drunken scene that's way over the top for a film but actually a very accurate depiction of a drunk.
Downbeat but one of the great chambara films.
"Tenchu" (heavenly judgment) is the word that the loyalists to the emperor yell while assassinating enemies or "traitors" to the cause. Katsu plays up his character' simple minded allegiance to a manipulative politician all in the name of patriotic pride. Anybody who questions the politician is labeled a "traitor" and becomes an assassination target.
One of the best photographed films ever, many shots are incredible compositions of form, color and light. The fight scenes are frequent and very bloody and brutal. The blood becomes a part of the color palette Gosha uses for his images. Gorgeous and disturbing. While the personal story is simple to follow, the historical background is complicated and while a basic history lesson for this time in Japan would be very helpful you can struggle through the film without it. The few drawbacks to the film are the music track, the length and Katsu's occasional scenery chewing. He has a drunken scene that's way over the top for a film but actually a very accurate depiction of a drunk.
Downbeat but one of the great chambara films.
helpful•84
- ChungMo
- Apr 11, 2008
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Details
- Runtime2 hours 20 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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