IMDb RATING
7.4/10
5.4K
YOUR RATING
A samurai goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family.A samurai goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family.A samurai goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 9 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe title "Mibu gishi den" literally means "Story of the Righteous Samurai of Mibu," and alludes to the "Ako gishi," better known in the West as the 47 Ronin.
- Quotes
Hajime Saitô: Not much to look at, huh? I don't like beautiful women. Women called 'beautiful' disgust me. After all, none of us is more than a sack of shit.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Samurai Movies (2016)
Featured review
One acid test for a movie is that of whether or not you find yourself caring for (any of) the characters as you watch it. This superb study of human personality and of self-sacrifice, honour and duty in difficult circumstances passes that test like almost no other film I've seen.
I've read many of the comments here that want to split this film into good parts and bad parts and would only say that I, for one, cannot see the join - from start to finish the film is well-paced with a series of events that will make you laugh at times and may well make you cry at other times. For me, it was uncomfortable a lot of the time, as I wasn't much pleased with the way the story unfolded and the direction the events took - with just about everything going against the way I would have liked it to! (Risk of a spoiler prevents me being too specific here!) Too many personal chords were being struck for me to actually *enjoy* the film at times but it maintained an unusual integrity in sticking to its own uncomfortable/unsatisfying course and reaching its own rather superb conclusion in a way that many movies seem unable to do without pandering to their audience's expectations in some way.
Technicalities were mostly excellent: The acting (possibly because of the non-familiar faces) was impeccable, the soundtrack was excellent and all other aspects were most satisfactory despite a slight air of claustrophobia with much of the film taking place in a somewhat shut-in environment with only the briefest picture-postcard views of Japan. Also, with the copy I saw, the colour could have been better at times, as could the lighting of the interiors...
The temptation to say avoid this film and any disquiet it might bring you is strong, but instead I say watch it and I have no qualms in giving it 9 out of 10 - it's worth it!!
I've read many of the comments here that want to split this film into good parts and bad parts and would only say that I, for one, cannot see the join - from start to finish the film is well-paced with a series of events that will make you laugh at times and may well make you cry at other times. For me, it was uncomfortable a lot of the time, as I wasn't much pleased with the way the story unfolded and the direction the events took - with just about everything going against the way I would have liked it to! (Risk of a spoiler prevents me being too specific here!) Too many personal chords were being struck for me to actually *enjoy* the film at times but it maintained an unusual integrity in sticking to its own uncomfortable/unsatisfying course and reaching its own rather superb conclusion in a way that many movies seem unable to do without pandering to their audience's expectations in some way.
Technicalities were mostly excellent: The acting (possibly because of the non-familiar faces) was impeccable, the soundtrack was excellent and all other aspects were most satisfactory despite a slight air of claustrophobia with much of the film taking place in a somewhat shut-in environment with only the briefest picture-postcard views of Japan. Also, with the copy I saw, the colour could have been better at times, as could the lighting of the interiors...
The temptation to say avoid this film and any disquiet it might bring you is strong, but instead I say watch it and I have no qualms in giving it 9 out of 10 - it's worth it!!
- How long is When the Last Sword Is Drawn?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- 壬生義士傳
- Filming locations
- Nanbu, Aomori, Japan(Childhood Home)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $2,487,338
- Runtime2 hours 23 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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By what name was When the Last Sword Is Drawn (2002) officially released in Canada in English?
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