When the Last Sword is Drawn is one of the more interesting depictions of Japan's last generation of samurai. However, this context immediately introduces a problem, because the Boshin War and its implications on Japanese society are not generally understood by non-Japanese audiences. Doctors moving to China, samurai being mowed down by primitive machine guns, the Emperor and the Shogun at war, people being tied to a clan or a 'land'? These elements all play a role in the story, and add to it, but a (superficial) knowledge of them is taken for granted by the director.
The movie itself starts off well. The introduction of the characters, their motivations, and their places within the story are handled to-the-point in a series of tightly scripted and edited scenes that switch between present (1899), past and pre-past, so to speak. As the story unfolds, the relations between the characters develop along interesting lines, as motivations become more clear and emotions start to ramp up on all sides.
After the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868, these emotions become somewhat problematic. The melodramatic scenes following this event are drawn out, repetitive and lack the focus and tightness of the first hour or so of the film. In the final sequences, the connection between the past and present is made, and while the 'surprise' did indeed make me grin, I'm not sure it was really necessary to take so long to build up to that one short moment.
Nevertheless, this is a film well worth seeing. Kiichi Nakai is excellent as samurai Kanichiro Yoshimura, and Koichi Sato makes a convincing Hajime Saito. Takehiro Murata, Atsushi Ito and Yuji Miyake make for an interesting Ono family, and Sansei Shiomi and Masato Sakai are a great bunch of samurai. Yui Natsukawa isn't on screen for long, but portrays the difficulties of Shizu's position as the wife of the 'traitor' Yoshimura very well indeed. Finally, what's not to like about Miki Nakatani as Nui? Her story as an orphaned and traded-around girl is quite tragic in and of itself, and it was great to see Nui, as a woman, get involved in the main, male-dominated, series of events.
The movie itself starts off well. The introduction of the characters, their motivations, and their places within the story are handled to-the-point in a series of tightly scripted and edited scenes that switch between present (1899), past and pre-past, so to speak. As the story unfolds, the relations between the characters develop along interesting lines, as motivations become more clear and emotions start to ramp up on all sides.
After the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868, these emotions become somewhat problematic. The melodramatic scenes following this event are drawn out, repetitive and lack the focus and tightness of the first hour or so of the film. In the final sequences, the connection between the past and present is made, and while the 'surprise' did indeed make me grin, I'm not sure it was really necessary to take so long to build up to that one short moment.
Nevertheless, this is a film well worth seeing. Kiichi Nakai is excellent as samurai Kanichiro Yoshimura, and Koichi Sato makes a convincing Hajime Saito. Takehiro Murata, Atsushi Ito and Yuji Miyake make for an interesting Ono family, and Sansei Shiomi and Masato Sakai are a great bunch of samurai. Yui Natsukawa isn't on screen for long, but portrays the difficulties of Shizu's position as the wife of the 'traitor' Yoshimura very well indeed. Finally, what's not to like about Miki Nakatani as Nui? Her story as an orphaned and traded-around girl is quite tragic in and of itself, and it was great to see Nui, as a woman, get involved in the main, male-dominated, series of events.