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Twilight Samurai, The

Universal acclaim
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 22 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Yoji Yamada
Yoshitaka Asama
Shuuhei Fujisawa (novels Tasogare Seibei, Chikkou Shiatsu and Iwaibito Sukehachi)
Directed by: Yoji Yamada
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 23, 2004
DVD: December 28, 2004
Running Time: 129 minutes, Color
Origin: Japan
Language(s): Japanese (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Hiroshi Kanbe, Miki Itô, and Erina Hashiguchi
A family drama set in the late nineteenth century Japan, as the feudal Shogun period was giving way to the Meiji Restoration. (Empire Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Hidden Blade
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Seibei's story is told by director Yoji Yamada in muted tones and colors, beautifully re-creating a feudal village that still retains its architecture, its customs, its ancient values, even as the economy is making its way of life obsolete.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
This is an absolutely brilliant film but in a quiet way.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
A gorgeous, emotionally rewarding masterpiece that invites compassion, reflection and, at least from this reviewer, a great deal of admiration. It's no wonder that it won 12 Japanese Academy Awards.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's wonderful to see a Japanese movie in which a samurai, for all his somber discipline and skill, is also a touching and complicated ordinary man.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
Perhaps because this is director Yoji Yamada's 77th movie, every aspect of his filmmaking is placidly assured and meaningful.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Deeply affecting.
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Yamada shoots his movie with a grandfatherly expertise, never squeezing the drama for juice or distancing us too far from the characters -- it's a pleasure to see a movie that makes every shot count, narratively and emotively.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
This is a determined, resolutely paced, and atypical samurai movie, more an epic of the heart than of the battlefield, and all the more powerful for it.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Reflective, touching, intimate portrait of a samurai facing action in his waning years.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Twilight is a great samurai film in the way that "Unforgiven," "The Gunfighter" or "Will Penny"--all muted, somber films about aging gunfighters--are great westerns.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
The pace of this Oscar nominee may be a bit contemplative for audiences seeking "Yojimbo"-style action, but it's surely a more realistic and moving look at life in 19th-century Japan.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Welcome to Yoji Yamada. After decades of comedies, he arrives--in this country, at least--with a uniquely touching samurai film. At the age of seventy-three, he starts a new career.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. Yamada is confident that by taking his time and relishing the leathery arrogance that is the perquisite of a director in his 70's, his audience will follow his whims.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
There are a few fight scenes, but they're as unshowy as the rest of this restrained film. If your warrior ideal is Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill," you may not have the patience this gentle story demands of its viewers.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
The stylish flick harkens back to the work of old masters like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
The anti-"Kill Bill." This is an old man's movie in all the good ways: gentle, humanistic, rich with observation, quietly aware of all that can't be solved by the sword.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Not for those with limited attention spans, though there's never a dull moment.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
The film's septuagenarian director deserves his share of the credit for bringing this human story to the screen with engaging B-movie modesty and no small measure of chops.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Though it includes a couple of sword fights, Yamada's epic domestic drama could easily be called an anti-samurai film. But its aim is less to subvert the genre's conventions than to deepen them, extending its parameters to include the minutia and rhythms of everyday life.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The film is a bit of a slog, but in the end, it's a slog worth taking, thanks to a strange, moving ending that reduces the samurai era's codes of warfare, class, and honor down to two men meeting face to face.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Although the pace is slow, "Twilight" is a moving account of a family in crisis and the love that provides a short window of happiness for the father.
Read Full Review >Variety David Stratton
A mellow, stately, contemplative study of a stoic, brave man, but it doesn't deliver in the action department.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 22 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Eric S. gave it a9:
A little slow at some points but still both fascinating in its portrait of daily life in the samurai era and moving as well. A great film.
DianeMaria B. gave it a10:
I believe that this is the greatest movie I have ever seen. I cried. This movie has a very large heart, and involves skill, money, society, family, death, love and honor. Fabulous!
jeffsan k. gave it a10:
Loved the acting so much, I could feel every emotion of each of the characters. This is not a samurai story for kids who like a bunch of karate scenes - it's a great emotional story. You don't just watch this movie, you also feel it.
Chris A. gave it a10:
I love this movie! So did my whole family!!!!!
armando s. gave it a9:
Those looking for a typical Samurai movie will be disappointed-the protagonist is a reluctant fighter who has to be coerced into using his sword. However, this is a wonderful depiction of Japanese life during a period of societal upheval-when the old ways clashed with the new order-a much more thoughtful movie then The Last Samurai, it is moving and elegaic- but probably too slow moving for most American tastes.
Daniel M. gave it a3:
This movie is long, boring, and uninteresting in all sorts. I don't understand all the high ratings. It's no where near the level of Kurosawa's work. Story is basically about a man who loses his wife and is left with two daughters and a mother suffering from what seems to be alzheimers. The story just drags on to how he falls in love with his childhood friend which is his bestfriends little sister blah blah blah. When I watch a japanese period film I expect some samurai action this movie lacks a lot of it. There's only 2 fight scenes, one where he fights with a wooden training sword and the other one sucks. Nothing incredible about this movie whatsoever. Go watch Seven Samurai or Sanjuro two of Kurosawa's best works and two of the best Japanese period films in my opinion.
Bill J. gave it a10:
Fantastic movie! Great character development and supposedly historically accurate. Really enjoyed it and am going to buy the DVD. It was so refreshing to see a REALISTIC sword fight where people actually get cut up with their sharp swords and aren't floating in the air doing fake gymnastics. The director in his comments echoed that this was one of the things he wanted to depict.
