is a 1998 comedy-samurai film directed by

Hiroyuki Nakano is a Japanese film director. Filmography * ''Watching People'' (1989) * ''Spiritual Earth: Aloha Wave'' (1995) * ''Samurai Fiction is a 1998 comedy-samurai film directed by Hiroyuki Nakano. It is almost entirely black-and-white, and follows ...

. It is almost entirely black-and-white, and follows a fairly standard plotline for a comedy and ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

'' samurai film, but the presence of

Tomoyasu Hotei , also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 35 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with acclaimed a ...

's rock-and-roll soundtrack separates it from the films it was inspired by, such as the works of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

. A loose spinoff was released in 2001, as '' Red Shadow''.

Overview

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

, who had been primarily a director of music videos for

MTV Japan MTV Japan (Music Television Japan) is the Japanese version of the cable television network based in Japan. It is a subsidiary of Paramount Networks Japan K.K., and was launched on November 15, 1993. It can be viewed on cable television, SKY Perfe ...

. 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

Plot

The plot centers on Inukai Heishirō (

Mitsuru Fukikoshi is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Aomori Prefecture, Fukikoshi moved to Tokyo at age 19 and joined the Wahaha Honpo theater troupe. Since leaving Wahaha in 1999, he has appeared in many films and television dramas, while continuing to act on ...

), 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 (

). Against his father's advice, Heishirō insists on retrieving the sword himself. His father sends two

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

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 is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 2nd Yokohama Film Festival for ''Shiki Natsuko'' and ''Yūgure made'' and at the 6th and 7th Japan Academy Prizes. Filmography Films * ''Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji'' (1963 ...

) 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. Meanwhile, Kazamatsuri settles for a few days at a gambling house owned by Lady Okatsu (

Mari Natsuki , more commonly known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, dancer and actress. Born in Tokyo, she started work as a singer from a young age. In 2007, Natsuki announced her engagement to percussionist Nobu Saitō, with their marriage taking ...

), who falls in love with him. Then one night one of the ninja sent to protect Heishirō bribes her to poison his sake for one thousand gold. She does, but Kazamatsuri tastes the poison and kills Okatsu. He then kidnaps Koharu in an attempt to get the master Mizoguchi to fight him. Mizoguchi reveals to Heishirō that he killed Koharu's father, and has since never drawn his sword on another man, despite his immense skill. They then go to find Kazamatsuri and rescue Koharu. While Mizoguchi stalls Kazamatsuri, Heishirō takes Koharu aside and says he will marry her if Mizoguchi wins. Kazamatsuri fights Mizoguchi, who only draws his sword after his opponent destroys his wooden sword. He then disarms Kazamatsuri near a cliff. Kazamatsuri, admitting defeat, commits suicide by jumping off the cliff. Heishirō and the others go to the bottom, where there is no sign of Kazamatsuri's body, but Koharu spots the stolen sword at the bottom of the river, where Heishirō retrieves it. Flash forward one year. Heishirō has married Koharu, the sword is restored, and Mizoguchi is now an official in Heishiro's clan.

Cast

as Hanbei Mizoguchi *

as Heishirō Inukai *

as Rannosuke Kazamatsuri *Tamaki Ogawa as Koharu Mizoguchi *

as Okatsu *

Taketoshi Naitō was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1953 and 2003. He died of lymphoma on 21 August 2012. Selected filmography Film * '' Mahiru no ankoku'' (1956) * ''An Actress'' (1956) - Akio Satomi * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) ...

as Kanzen Inukai *

Kei Tani (born Yasuo Watanabe (渡部泰雄, Watanabe Yasuo) ; 22 February 1932 – 11 September 2010) was a Japanese comedian, actor and musician. Born in Tokyo, he learned to play the trombone and, while a student at Chuo University, began playing in ...

as Kagemaru *

Fumiya Fujii is a Japanese musician, actor and former lead singer of The Checkers born in Kurume. His younger brother is Naoyuki Fujii, a musician and former sax player for The Checkers. His eldest son is Fuji TV announcer Kōki Fujii. He formerly belonged t ...

as Ryūnosuke Kuzumi *Naoyuki Fujii as Shintarō Suzuki *Ken Osawa as Tadasuke Kurosawa *Hiroshi Kanbe as Gosuke *Ryōichi Yuki as Ninja Hayabusa * Akiko Monou as Ninja Akakage *Tarō Maruse as Sakyōnosuke Kajii *Yūji Nakamura as Samejima

Cultural references

The film has a number of inside jokes and allusions. For example, the stolen sword that is at the center of the plot was a personal possession of

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

, the star of many of

's samurai films. One of Heishiro's closest friends is named Kurosawa. ''Samurai Fiction''s opening titles, in which samurai performing

kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

are silhouetted against a red background, were referenced in blue & black in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

's ''

Kill Bill ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...

Vol. 1''. Also, Tarantino used

Hotei Hotei may refer to: *Hotei Station, a Japanese train station *Tomoyasu Hotei, a Japanese musician *Budai, known as "Hotei" in Japanese, a semi-historical monk and deity *''Coralliophila hotei ''Coralliophila hotei'' is a species of sea snail, a ...

's famous instrumental track " Shin Jingi Naki Tatakai" ("Battle Without Honor or Humanity" – the title of a classic

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

movie by

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

, a major influence on Tarantino) as

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

for ''Kill Bill Vol. 1''. Hotei played Kazamatsuri in ''Samurai Fiction'' and composed its

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Licensed products

A variety of licensed products were released from the video editions (DVD/LD/VHS), to the original soundtrack (CD), to ''Samurai Foto'', a portfolio collecting 300 pictures taken from the motion picture.

SF episode one

Hiroyuki Nakano envisioned ''Samurai Fiction'' as the first episode in a "''SF''" entitled series. The films would be only vaguely related, in terms of plot or characters as Nakano wanted to explore a number of genres. However, only a second feature film has been made, '' Stereo Future'' in 2001, the following episodes being short films. Unreleased episodes were named ''Super Funky'', and ''Sunday Family''.

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0170544 1998 films 1990s Japanese films 1990s action comedy films Japanese comedy films Japanese action comedy films Jidaigeki films Samurai films