Synopsis
Following the collapse of his clan, unemployed samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to commit ritual suicide on his property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for charity, try to force him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his honor and his past. Winner of the 1963 Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri is a scathing denouncement of feudal authority and hypocrisy.
Cast
| Hanshiro Tsugumo | Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Kageyu Saito | Rentaro Mikuni |
| Motome Chijiiwa | Akira Ishihama |
| Miho Tsugumo | Shima Iwashita |
| Hikokuro Omodaka | Tetsuro Tamba |
| Tango Inaba | Masao Mishima |
| Hayato Yazaki | Ichiro Nakaya |
| Masakatsu Fukushima | Kei Sato |
| Jinnai Chijiiwa | Yoshio Inaba |
| Umenosuke Kawabe | Yoshiro Aoki |
Credits
| Director | Masaki Kobayashi |
| Screenplay | Shinobu Hashimoto |
| Original story | Yasuhiko Takiguch |
| Cinematography | Yoshio Miyajima |
| Editing | Hisashi Sagara |
| Art direction | Junichi Ozumi and Shigemasa Toda |
| Music | Toru Takemitsu |
| Producer | Tatsuo Hosoya |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Exclusive video introduction by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie
- Rare excerpt of a Directors Guild of Japan video interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, moderated by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide)
- New video interviews with star Tatsuya Nakadai and screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto
- Poster gallery
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- A 32-page booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Joan Mellen and a reprint of her 1972 interview with Kobayashi
From the Current
Harakiri: Kobayashi and History
by Aug 22, 2005Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi came of age in the postwar moment, a time when filmmakers were at the vanguard of dissident expression in that country. Drawing upon a rich history of protest in Japanese cinema, which had fallen dormant during the war and occupation years, filmmakers seized the...
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Some objections to Harakiri
12 posts by 8 people updated 5 months ago
