The Twilight Samurai is Yamada Yoji’s seventy-seventh film and first period drama. It is not, however, the usual samurai swashbuckler.
Instead Yamada has found, in the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1867), a Japan that uncannily resembles the one of today, complete with recessionary lifestyles, office politics - and men who can’t say what they feel. Yamada’s trademark humanism is also still much in evidence, together with a darker, more tragic view of human nature than usual in his work.
The hero, Seibei (Sanada Hiroyuki), is a samurai scraping along on a meager stipend and working as a clerk in the clan office. When his colleagues go
out for a drink after work, he heads straight home as the sun goes down -
earning him the derisive nickname Tasogare (Twilight) Seibei.
He lives with his two young daughters and senile mother - all that is left of his family after the death of his wife. Everyone pitches in, but Seibei does most of the work, from tending the garden to making cricket cages for extra money. But for all his ceaseless labors, he remains desperately poor, as medical bills from his wife’s last illness devour his meager income.
Then a fellow samurai, Michinojo, tells Seibei that his sister Tomoe (Miyazawa Rie) has left her drunken brute of a husband. Seibei was Tomoe’s childhood friend, but he has not seen her in years. The next day she visits Seibei’s house and her cheery smile brightens the gloom. The girls fall in love with her - as does Seibei, though he would rather die that admit it.
The ex-husband reappears to harass Tomoe - and challenge Seibei to a duel. Seibei wins using only a wooden stick against his opponent’s sword, and his fame spreads throughout the town. Impressed by Seibei’s bravery and skill, the clan elders order him to dispatch one Zenemon Yogo (Tanaka Min) - a samurai on the losing side of a clan succession struggle who has refused to commit harakiri in contrition. Seibei is reluctant, but the clan elders insist - and promise to end his financial worries. How can he kill this stranger, who has done him no wrong, with a clear conscience?
Hiroyuki Sanada bring a quiet conviction to the role of Seibei. The climatic showdown between Seibei and Zenemon is the highlight of the film - and brilliantly illustrates Yamada’s principal themes - the imminent disappearance of the samurai way in the flood tide of Westernization and the absurdity of mortal combat (and by extension, war) once the combatants see each other as fellow human beings. Sanada and celebrated Butoh dancer Tanaka Min perform their dance of death with pathos and grace. This scene could almost stand alone as a one-act play - and is one of the best things Yamada has ever done.
Mark Schilling