Harakiri - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentaro Mikuni, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Tetsuro Tamba
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
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Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 25649
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 133
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.9
MPN: PMIDHAR110D
ISBN: 0780030060
UPC: 037429207321
EAN: 9780780030060
ASIN: B0009WIE2A
Theatrical Release Date: August 4, 1964
Release Date: August 23, 2005
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Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 08/23/2005 Run time: 133 minutes
Amazon.com
Dramatically compelling and emotionally intense, Harakiri is a certified classic of Japanese film, and a riveting study of samurai codes of honor. Unlike Kurosawa's rousing samurai epics, this is an uncompromisingly tragic tale, exposing the hypocrisy of 17th-century Japanese society with its story of a family destroyed by the cruelty of feudalism toward warriors in peacetime. The film is truly Shakespearean in its emotional scope, embodied by the unforgettable performance of Tatsuya Nakadai (star of Kurosawa's Ran) as an elder warrior seeking revenge for the unnecessary seppuku (ritual suicide) of his beloved son-in-law. Director Masaki Kobayashi begins at story's end, then recounts the narrative (adapted from a novel by Yasuhiko Takiguchi) as told by Nakadai's character. The effect is almost unbearably suspenseful, leading to an explosive climax of supreme defiance and samurai swordplay, erupting from a battle of wills, called bluffs, and hotly defended honor. For connoisseurs of samurai action, Harakiri is not to be missed. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
Criterion version MUCH better than the original release August 28, 2008
I have both versions. The video is cleaner now and the translation/subtitles make MUCH more sense.
Kudos to the production company for Improving the movie and not just re-releasing the old version!!!!
What is the true nature of honor? August 12, 2008
I hesitate to add my two cents to this collection of excellent reviews. I have long been a fan both of Japanese cinema and Sword films, as well as a life long student of Zen. Samurai culture has roots in Zen traditions, and the most sophisticated Sword films address this spiritual context. These principles are illustrated profoundly in the famous Samurai Trilogy, by Inagaki Samurai Trilogy Box Set - Criterion Collection. It is said that the soul of a Samuai is his sword. To approach a craftsman and request that he polish your sword is a form of metanoia, the surrender of a student to the guidance of an expert. So, if the sword IS the soul of a Samurai--what does it mean to polish the sword? This is the essence of Zen--the Sword of Discriminative Wisdom. How does one polish the sword of discriminative wisdom, which separates truth from illusion, or right Being from wrong Being?
Of course, mastery of swordsmanship, commitment to tradition, even sitting Zazen, is no guarantee of right understanding. Social status and pride is no certification of right understanding. Neither is adherence to custom and convention. The essence of the film reminds me of the admonition by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: 'We are all qualified by the Spirit to minister the new covenant, not in the written word, which kills, but in the Spirit, which gives life. If it is possible to describe right understanding in Zen, this comes very close to the target.
Here is a Clan who misunderstood their moral imperative, and must accept a brutal lesson from a man they regard as worthless--but who demonstrates he is more worthy than the lot of them put together. The heart of Buddhist teaching is compassion. Compassion is identical with the recognition of the law of interdependent causation. The pursuit of the Noble Eightfold Path is no slight undertaking. A man who comes to your door requesting to commit suicide on your doorstep deserves special consideration. His situation is dire by definition. Why condemn him out of a rigid adherence to a sense of duty? Why condemn him just to send a message to other would be deadbeats? What would Buddha do? Why not lift the veil for a second and discover what brought him to your doorstep? Thing are not always as they appear. Not always as they seem. "Is that so?", asks the student of Zen with a smile.
This is a compelling, challenging film--a great lesson in moral obligation, in the inviolate supremacy of compassion as a guiding principle in the pursuit of justice, in the false aspects of presentation, and how the truth is often more concealed, and deeper, and more profound than you are capable of imagining.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It is comparable to Shakespeare in its depth, scope, and elegance. A true classic.
A Scathing and Devastating indictment of the Way of the Samurai... June 8, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Rage when FOCUSED on a Single purpose is a very powerful weapon..."
HARAKIRI (1962) (aka. Seppuku) is the award-winning film from Masaki Kobayashi (Samurai Rebellion, Kwaidan) and has been pronounced as Kobayashi's masterpiece by his mentor Kinoshita and as one of the TOP Five Greatest Japanese films ever made. The film was originally titled "Seppuku" in Japan which translates into ritual suicide. Western audiences are more familiar with the word Harakiri; Hara means belly and Kiri means cut. The two kanji (Chinese characters)are reversed to form "Seppuku" a more formal term. In the full ritual, the samurai would cut his belly open and then the "shakunin" (second) would behead him. During the Tokugawa period, the Shogunate ordered quite a large number of lords to commit "seppuku" to curb the number of Daimyos to avert disorder and possible challenges to the rule.
1630. Following the collapse of his clan, unemployed samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on his property. Iyi's clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for charity, tells Tsugumo the tale of another samurai who they forced to commit Seppuku after they had determined that his intentions were only for show. The Iyi clan have greatly underestimated Tsugumo's honor and his past--who is this stranger and what does he really want?
An empty suit of samurai armor opens and closes the film, it represents the samurai of old as an active warrior who fights for his Daimyo who after the Tokugawa era is reduced as a wandering Ronin. While it has all these connotations; Harakiri's focus is its emptiness. For this film is a scathing, devastating indictment of the hollowness and hypocrisy of the way of Bushido, the warrior's code. The colliding characteristics of giri (the duty to Bushido) and ninjo (human feelings, compassion and conscience) are the central themes that Kobayashi has incorporated into his film. If you saw his "The Human Condition" trilogy, the director was highly critical of the Japanese martial condition; whether in the olden samurai traditions or in the modern Japanese army. Kobayashi's thesis expresses that such systems are inhumane and such inhumanity are only hidden behind such noble sounding rules that are hypocritical and meaningless. Of course, it was extremely easy to see which side the filmmaker comes down on. Kobayashi's rebellious themes portrays the samurai code as superficial, that after all the rules and supposed nobility exuded by retainers; he delves into the rotten core of the system that reveals naught but cowardice among certain clansmen.
Kobayashi's direction is flawless; the film depicts its social themes through allegory. He is more an expressionist than a realist. The contrasts of black and white depicted by Tsugumo's black kimono against the white matted platform on which he tells his tale, represents the Iyi clan's intransigence. Kobayashi sets the mood for the film successfully as the lead character unveils his tale, the proceedings are extremely intense and immersive. I have never been so engaged in a film as much as I've been with "Harakiri". Even during that time, Kobayashi exhibits excellent film techniques. He uses the widescreen format with such skill that signifies the endless horizontality of the feudal period. Kobayashi's frames and cuts are examples of more a modern film style that solidly defies the rituals of the past; that expresses his stance that society mustn't be destructive in the face of authoritarian power and that such things, however may seem permanent, is not invincible to the "rivers" of change.
It was no accident that Kobayashi had picked Tatsuya Nakadai as the lead. Kobayashi chose him because during that time, the actor had embodied postwar individualism and youthful culture as an actor of modern Shingeki. Nakadai has a very clear enunciation and a powerful deep speaking voice that expresses all the emotional aspects of his character. With almost an uncanny quality, the actor expresses his soul with his body movement, facial mannerisms on behalf of the outworn notion of samurai dignity. Also worth mentioning is the performance of Rentaro Mikuni as the clan elder, Kageyu Saito. His performance has the outward appearance of an individual so engaged and committed in the system, that while he sees what is happening he is so dedicated that he incapable of doing the right thing. Another very human flaw is shown, indifference and that some individuals are so used to their ways that they would do anything to prolong it.
While Kobayashi's masterpiece is so gripping and truly engaging, the film also has its share of realistic swordplay that contains a lot of violent intensity and visceral attitude, that almost look like a "Ballet" of eventual destruction. The dialogue by Shinobu Hashimoto (Samurai assassin) in the hands of Kobayashi, becomes a meditative, brooding play that creates an intimidating aura that is very menacing and that exudes the strong hand of fate as an inevitable doom. Strong and powerful with its expressions, Tsugumo`s disrespectful treatment of the empty armor was meant to express pure disgust of such pretentious nobility and cowardice in the Iyi clan. This film truly hurts and quite painful in its expressions of social and political ways.
Dark, moody and gripping, Harakiri remains as a perfect example of excellent Japanese filmmaking. It is a very POWERFUL expression of Masaki Kobayashi's beliefs that human feelings and consideration must take precedence to superficial rules and beliefs that merely beautifies the surface. It is a vibrant depiction that Injustice must be confronted with unrelenting force and single-minded purpose that is worth sacrificing one's life for.
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION! [5+ Stars]
The Greatest "Action" Movie Ever.... February 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
... and yet the action takes only the last five or ten minutes of the film! Mr Zack Davison's "most helpful" review describes the premise of the movie very eloquently; it's helpful indeed, since I don't feel like writing a straight expository essay, just a few impressions:
Black and white! Every frame of such stunning black and thoughtful white that it rivals a Zen garden in stones, or closer to home, an Ansel Adams photo of Yosemite in winter. The new print from Criterion captures most of the black intensity of the film I saw first run decades ago.
Tatsuyo Nakadai! Mifune got more fame in the West, but Nakadai was the actor, Kabuki trained, who could make you cry or make you grab the back of the seat in front of you in panic. He was the "Jack Palance" bad gunfighter, by the way, to Mifune's "Clint Eastwood". In this film, he portrays a man of such honorable concern for his family, both the household and the clan, that his sword is inspired by righteousness, until the clan proves utterly unworthy.
The historical context! Kobayashi isn't into comic book fantasies of martial magic. This is a film of detailed and precise historical realism; even the virtuosic swordsmanship of the Nakadai character is realistically justified. The moment of history portrayed is the very moment when Japan closed its doors to Western influence, when the aristocracy "gave up the gun" and thus preserved the monopoly of violence of the samurai class. Imagine if the feudal lords of Europe had prohibited not only the gun but the long bow. No Agincourt, no Crecy, and we'd be writing this review in French.
The suspense! The Nakadai character enters the hall of the clan chief, sits cross-legged, and stays seated throughout the first 90% of the film (though much movement is shown in flashbacks). And then... well, I won't spoil the suspense, except to say that all samurai H_ll breaks loose.
Easily the equal of Kurosawa's best August 4, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This film was released around the same time (1962) as Kurosawa's "Sanjuro," the sequel to "Yojimbo" from the previous year. Being a Kurosawa fan from way back and wishing to see more of his classic films, Netflix recommended this one to me as well, so I gave it a whirl.
I'm glad to say I was not disappointed in the least. While Kobayashi's directorial methods are different from Kurosawa's, he ultimately delivers a payoff every bit as dramatic and satisfying as those Kurosawa was known to deliver. "Hara-Kiri" is ultimately heartbreaking and, like Kurosawa, Kobayashi does not shy away from showing the darker aspects of feudal Japan. Tatsuya Nakadai (who has also worked extensively with Akira Kurosawa on such films as "Throne of Blood," "Kagemusha" and "Ran") plays a middle-aged samurai in the early Tokugawa period who is down on his luck and offers himself to the house of a powerful shogun to commit ritual suicide in the only honourable manner left to thousands of dispossessed samurai of the time. The shogun lord doubts his intention, as apparently many other samurai have come before him seeking a handout, and tells him as much. He soon finds out that his son-in-law, a younger warrior, came seeking the same destiny some time earlier; what follows is a wrenching look at desperation and revenge. Highly recommended.
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