Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters (whom he adores) and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honour of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedences. The consequences are cruel.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this film but it wasn't it. I thought, by the title, it was going to be an action movie. Far from it. It's a touching drama film that was very slow paced. Rie Miyazawa was interesting as the main character's love interest but other than that, this is an easily forgetable movie.
1/2
