Samurai Fiction
| Samurai Fiction | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Hiroyuki Nakano |
| Written by |
Hiroyuki Nakano Hiroshi Saito |
| Starring |
Tomoyasu Hotei Morio Kazama Mitsuru Fukikoshi |
| Music by | Tomoyasu Hotei |
| Cinematography | Yujiro Yajima |
| Distributed by | Pony Canyon |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
Samurai Fiction (SF サムライ・フィクション Esu Efu Samurai Fikushon?) is a 1998 comedy-samurai film directed by Hiroyuki Nakano. It is almost entirely black-and-white, and follows a fairly standard plotline for a comedy and jidaigeki samurai film, but the presence of Tomoyasu Hotei's rock-and-roll soundtrack separates it from the films it was inspired by, such as the works of Akira Kurosawa. A loose spinoff was released in 2001, as Red Shadow.
While the film is nearly entirely in black-and-white, paying homage to older samurai movies, this allows for the artistic and dramatic use of color; this is most noticeable whenever a character is killed, and the screen flashes red for a moment. Color is used to dramatic effect at the beginning and end of the film as well.
Samurai Fiction was the first full-length feature film for writer-director Hiroyuki Nakano, who had been primarily a director of music videos for MTV Japan. His experience with music videos comes through in the directing of the film. This movie was also the first acting experience for Japanese rock star Tomoyasu Hotei.
The plot centers on Inukai Heishirō (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), the son of a clan officer. One of his clan's most precious heirlooms, a sword given them by the Shogun, has been stolen by the samurai Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei). Against his father's advice, Heishirō insists on retrieving the sword himself. His father sends two ninja after him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
Kazamatsuri wounds Heishirō, and kills one of his companions. The young noble ends up staying with an older samurai (Morio Kazama) and his daughter Koharu (Tamaki Ogawa) while he heals from his wound and plans his next move. The older samurai tries to dissuade him from fighting, but Heishirō's honor won't allow him to leave Kazamatsuri alive. The older samurai, who turns out to be the master Hanbei Mizoguchi, convinces him to fight Kazamatsuri by throwing rocks rather than with swords.
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Wikipedia