BFI London Film Festival, Day Five:
Robyn Citizen reviews Takashi Miike’s “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”; and Martin Tsai reviews Gus Van Sant’s “Restless.”
Takashi Miike’s Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai
I’m still very unsure about this. Kobayashi’s Harakiri is probably my favorite movie, period, and it’s just so unnecessary to remake it. Miike did an excellent job bringing the genre ‘up-to-date’ with 13 Assassins, but it would be impossible in my opinion to get the same result with Harakiri. No one is going to be able to match Nakadai as Hanshiro. I just don’t see it happening. Not to mention Rentaro Mikuni’s great performance as the Clan Elder. I’m not sure Miike can bring to the table what Kobayashi did that made Harakiri so special either, regardless of the actors. His style is vital to the way the story is told. I can’t say I’ve seen enough of Miike’s work to say he can’t pull it off, but I’m just very skeptical.
And why is it in 3D? :/
Your thoughts? I’m pretty sure it’s been out in Japan for a month or two now. Has anyone seen it yet?
Interrupting Sword of Doom for a sec to remind you dudes, Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now. GET IT MAN, DO IT. Amazon’s got it for like $18.
