Synopsis
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
Cast
| Sasuke Sarutobi, spy | Koji Takahashi |
| Saizo Kirigakure, spy | Shintaro Ishihara |
| Shigeyuki Koremura, leader of spies | Eitaro Ozawa |
| Takanosuke Nojiri, lieutenant | Kei Sato |
| Mitsuaki Inamura, spy | Mutsuhiro Toura |
| Sakon Takatani, lieutenant | Tetsuro Tanba |
| Tatewaki Koriyama, lieutenant | Eiji Okada |
| Jinnai–Kazutaka Horikawa, clan minister | Seiji Miyaguchi |
| Genba Kuni, magistrate | Minoru Hodaka |
| Okiwa, dancer and spy | Misako Watanabe |
| Yashiro Kobayashi, Christian samurai | Yasunori Irikawa |
| Omiyo, orphan in Joshinji Temple | Jitsuko Yoshimura |
| Joshinji Temple priest | Jun Hamamura |
Credits
| Director | Masahiro Shinoda |
| Screenplay | Yoshiyuki Fukuda |
| Based on the novel by | Koji Nakada |
| Cinematography | Masao Kosugi |
| Art direction | Junichi Osumi |
| Music | Toru Takemitsu |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Exclusive new video 16-minute interview with director Masahiro Shinoda
- Gallery of key characters in the film
- New essay by film scholar Alain Silver
- New and improved English subtitle translation
From the Current
Samurai Spy:
The Thin Line Between Truth and Lies
by
Oct 24, 2005
In the 1950s, the samurai film evolved definitively from the early narrative and visual conventions that had restrained it. Although they often worked outside the genre, Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi were the principals in a first wave of directors who redefined chanbara—a term taken...
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