Watches
June 16, 2012
Miike's remake of Kobayashi's Harakiri. I wasn't a big fan of that one to be honest, so I was curious to see where Miike would take this film. Turns out he would simply stick close to the original, the biggest difference for me was the more contemporary execution, which had a big impact on the overall experience.
Performances and technical qualities are a lot better compared to the original. The score is nice, the cinematography is on point and Ichikawa is an impressive lead. The story is more or less the same, sadly Miike can't keep up the tension all the way through, the middle part in particular is a little too slow.
Not quite sure what or if the 3D effect added anything to this remake, personally I can't imagine it made a big difference (it's not really the kind of film for that either). I prefer the crazier Miike films, still it's impressive to see his range. While not spectacular or extremely memorable, Death of a Samurai is a stylish, well-made film.