Yojiro Takita’s
‘When the Last Sword is Drawn’ is an epic tale of the turbulent times at the end of the 19th century. This is a glorious film, but is undeniably sad. Nothing, with perhaps the exception of
‘The Twilight Samurai’ has been made since the days of master-storyteller Kurosawa in this mould. Or I should say, nothing that has been widely distributed in the West.
'After the Rain' and
'The Sea is Watching' are another two recent fine examples, and to Western eyes, hardly viewed, of this wonderful often filmed time period. Comparison could be made to the Tom Cruise actioner
‘The Last Samurai' , but apart from being set in the same time period the comparison should end there.
This is an evocative, award-winning period drama, full of lush imagery, solid performances based around a blood-soaked history.
Famine and warfare are stretching throughout the land and the days of the sword and samurai are numbered. This is the background to the movie, and is told from a split narrative between the friendly, always smiling Kanichiro Yoshimura (Kiichi Nakai), the mysterious Hajime Saito (Koichi Sato), the type of closed-lipped samurai we are more used to seeing in the movies, and the young Doctor, who starts the tale, explaining the background of an old photograph that he has. So we are in flashback for the majority of the movies slightly overlong running time.
These characters are loosely based around real people who lived and fought with the Shinsengumi. These were common people and estranged samurai who did not have the hierarchy that the government ruled by. So our tale is with the common man and lowest rung on the political ladder. It is always the poor who are affected most by the warring rich and powerful.
Yoshimura, based on a character called the begging samurai, leaves his family and more importantly his clan to seek work elsewhere. This was looked upon as an act of treason but his spirit and reasoning was in the protection and welfare of his impoverished family. He is willing to cast his pride aside to earn money in order to help his family live throughout the bitter famine. He is one of the few samurai characters in any movie that is not scared to show his emotion or speak his real feelings. It is through his swordsmanship that he befriends the stoic Saito.
Together they band with the Shinsengumi against government troops in which their very existence is at threat and their warrior spirit is enlivened.
The movie is wonderfully presented in anamorphic 1.77:1 with the Dolby 2.0 channel, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS as the sound options. The subtitles are optional and are crisp and clear. The theatrical Trailer completes the content on disc 1.
Disc 2 starts off with 5 segments giving 42 minutes of behind-the-scenes stuff, from action sequences to starting the rain machines to green screen effects to choreography of the sword action to snow effects. These are pretty good indeed and worthy of your time as they also show some scenes that were cut from the movie.
8 interview segments at just over an hour has the cast and crew reflecting on the movie, the novel and the acting business in modern day Japan, in particular Kyoto, the home of the period drama. I am always amazed of how respectful and gracious the Japanese players are, always thankful and happy to be in the position they are in. Hollywood, please take note. The last section here, ‘The Actors Reminisce’ also includes a few behind-the-scenes shots, mostly during some of the action sequences.
In
'Premiere Footage' at the 2002 Tokyo International Film Festival, the mains are all dressed in period garb, graceful in attendance for the closing of the festival with the premiere showing of the film. Jiro Asada, the author of the book
'Mibu Gishi den' of which the film is based upon, joins the cast for some Q & A on stage before the showing. This looks rushed together, jump cuts, and some things are translated whereas some things have subtitles, but it’s a welcome 20 minutes' worth.
TV Tokyo provide the action for the press conference, and the footage here is pixilated and jumpy at the start but soon settles down with the cast looking good and are graceful with their appearance. Some of the dialogue, however, mirrors that said at the Premiere showing, as detailed above. The disc finishes off with some photo shoots.
'When the Last Sword is Drawn' is out to own now in the UK and available via
Amazon UK and as and as of yet has no date for release for this version in the US.
You can read more about the DVD in our database .
USA
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