(There might be small inaccuracies in this review, because I saw the movie 1 year ago).
This movie starts out with a mini-mystery of a kind: Two seemingly non-connected persons (a modern, western-style doctor and an aging samurai) meets - and discover they do have a link, namely a third man: Kanichiro Yoshimura.
The plot thickens when we gradually find out that one of the men (the doctor) almost only knows the man for his good sides (unselfishness, family man, etc.), while the other man (the aging samurai) only knows the man for his bad sides (greed, cowardliness, being a ridiculous clown, etc.). This is in itself a very interesting way to start a movie, and a surefire way to keep the viewer wondering: What IS the truth about this man - if there is any single truth....
In the first (and good) 2/3's of the movie, these two views are gradually combined into one consistent picture of the enigmatic Kanichiro Yoshimura: He would do anything, no matter how low, to support his family back home. This part of the movie, with the gradual revelation of the Kanichiro Yoshimura's past is really well-made, and in itself deserves praise.
The bad part starts when we have watched about 2/3's if the movie, hence the headline of this review. For some reason the point-of-view changes to Kanichiro Yoshimura's. Suddenly he seemingly forgets everything about his family's survival (and the director forgets how the Kanichiro Yoshimura-character had been until then). He starts throwing himself into massed ranks of enemies with rifles, only armed with two swords. While he survives that, the movie doesn't quite "survive", and instead devolves into a series of sentimental tear-jerkers, involving both Kanichiro Yoshimura and the persons around him. I just ask: Where in the world did the old (...and WAY more fascinating and ambiguous) Kanichiro Yoshimura go?!?!? Wby this sudden change in character?!
Conclusion: A movie, which could have been good, had it not been for the strange character development and overt sentimentalism of the last 1/3 of the movie.
Vote: 6/10.
This movie starts out with a mini-mystery of a kind: Two seemingly non-connected persons (a modern, western-style doctor and an aging samurai) meets - and discover they do have a link, namely a third man: Kanichiro Yoshimura.
The plot thickens when we gradually find out that one of the men (the doctor) almost only knows the man for his good sides (unselfishness, family man, etc.), while the other man (the aging samurai) only knows the man for his bad sides (greed, cowardliness, being a ridiculous clown, etc.). This is in itself a very interesting way to start a movie, and a surefire way to keep the viewer wondering: What IS the truth about this man - if there is any single truth....
In the first (and good) 2/3's of the movie, these two views are gradually combined into one consistent picture of the enigmatic Kanichiro Yoshimura: He would do anything, no matter how low, to support his family back home. This part of the movie, with the gradual revelation of the Kanichiro Yoshimura's past is really well-made, and in itself deserves praise.
The bad part starts when we have watched about 2/3's if the movie, hence the headline of this review. For some reason the point-of-view changes to Kanichiro Yoshimura's. Suddenly he seemingly forgets everything about his family's survival (and the director forgets how the Kanichiro Yoshimura-character had been until then). He starts throwing himself into massed ranks of enemies with rifles, only armed with two swords. While he survives that, the movie doesn't quite "survive", and instead devolves into a series of sentimental tear-jerkers, involving both Kanichiro Yoshimura and the persons around him. I just ask: Where in the world did the old (...and WAY more fascinating and ambiguous) Kanichiro Yoshimura go?!?!? Wby this sudden change in character?!
Conclusion: A movie, which could have been good, had it not been for the strange character development and overt sentimentalism of the last 1/3 of the movie.
Vote: 6/10.