Unforgiven (2013 film)
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Lee Sang-il |
| Written by |
David Webb Peoples Lee Sang-il |
| Starring | Ken Watanabe |
| Music by | Taro Iwashiro |
| Cinematography | Norimichi Kasamatsu |
| Edited by | Tsuyoshi Imai |
| Distributed by |
Nikkatsu Office Shirous Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese Ainu |
Unforgiven (許されざる者 Yurusarezaru Mono?) is a 2013 Japanese jidaigeki western film directed by Lee Sang-il. It is a remake of Clint Eastwood's 1992 western Unforgiven. The film was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film also made its US debut as the opening film for LA EigaFest 2013. It was also presented in 2014 in the Palm Springs International Film Festival (World Cinema Now category) and out of competition in the 70th Venice International Film Festival.
The plot closely follows the original 1992 film, but shifts the setting to Japan's Hokkaido frontier during the early Meiji period. Jubei Kamata (Ken Watanabe), a former samurai, is approached by an old associate to help claim the bounty on two men who have disfigured a sex worker.
Shortly after the start of the Meiji period, a former samurai under the Edo Shogunate, Jubei Kamata, flees from government forces on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Jubei kills his pursuers and disappears, but remains infamous as “Jubei the Killer”.
Years later, in a frontier town, two brothers, Sanosuke and Unosuke Hotta, disfigure a sex worker. The local lawman, Ichizo Oishi, lets the brothers go with only minor chastisement instead of dispatching them to Sapporo to face justice. The other sex workers gather together the reward for a bounty on the two brothers. This draws several bounty hunters, including Kingo Baba, an old associate of Jubei. One of the bounty hunters, Masaharu Kitaoji, arrives with his biographer. Armed with swords, he draws the attention of Oishi, who demands he hand over his weapons as they are banned in the town. Confronted by lawmen with firearms, Kitaoji has to accept, but is then beaten and humiliated by Oishi. The following day, Oishi throws him out of the town, but the biographer, Himeji, stays behind to write about Oishi instead.
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