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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Twilight Samurai, The

EMAILPRINTEmpire Pictures

Twilight Samurai, The reviews
82
9.0 User Score:

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

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)

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...

100

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.

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100

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

This is an absolutely brilliant film but in a quiet way.

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100

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.

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91

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.

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90

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.

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90

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Deeply affecting.

90

Washington Post Mark Jenkins

Combines novelistic detail with cinematic sweep.

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90

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.

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89

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.

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88

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Reflective, touching, intimate portrait of a samurai facing action in his waning years.

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88

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.

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83

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.

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80

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.

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80

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.

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75

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.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The stylish flick harkens back to the work of old masters like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Timeless.

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75

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.

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75

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Not for those with limited attention spans, though there's never a dull moment.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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70

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.

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60

Variety David Stratton

A mellow, stately, contemplative study of a stoic, brave man, but it doesn't deliver in the action department.

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50

Chicago Reader Ronnie Scheib

Gentle, muted film of limited aesthetic ambition.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 21 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.

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