Masaki Kobayashi's original masterpiece that inspired Takashi Miike
In the 17th century, Japan was no longer at war and the country was firmly ruled. Hanshirô Tsugumo, an unemployed ronin (wandering samurai) among many others, decides to knock on the door of the powerful Ii clan. Received by Kageyu Saitô, the clan's steward, he asks his permission to perform suicide by harakiri in the residence. Trying to dissuade him, Saitô then begins to tell him the story of Motome Chijiwa, a former ronin who also wanted to perform the same ritual...
With Harakiri, Masaki Kobayashi transcends the codes of chambara (sword film). By revisiting the myth of the samurai, the filmmaker takes a sharp look at the conditioning of men by ancestral values. For this first collaboration with the legendary screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto ( The Seven Samurai, Rashômon ), he wonderfully develops an exploded narrative system and uses many formal audacity, each more innovative than the next, thus giving the Grandscope format a devastating elegance. and intimate at the same time.
"[...] one of the greatest films of Japanese cinema" Christophe GANS
HARA-KIRI (1962 – B&W – 135 mins)
SUPPLEMENTS *
. ON THE ART OF DIE WELL (7 mins)
A historical introduction to Japanese feudalism and culture at the height of the Tokugawa era, when society was strictly organized into four classes: warriors, peasants, artisans, and – at the bottom of the hierarchy – merchants.
. INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHE GANS (30 mins)
Filmmaker and screenwriter, Christophe Gans opens the doors of his cinephilia, returns to the codes of chambara and the impact of Harakiri in Japanese cinema of the 1960s.
. TRAILER
* in HD on the Blu-ray version
Released May 9, 2012
