Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai is a remake (or better yet, an adaptation of the same novel) of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 masterpiece Harakiri. Does the story really need another adaptation? Of course not, and once again it's proved that remakes can rarely catch up to the originals. The 2011 version was directed by Takashi Miike, and is actually in 3D. If you watch the original film, the last thing that'll come across your mind is "I wonder how this would look in 3D" because about 80% of the film is just people talking.
These are the major differences the remake offers:
1) Motome's harakiri scene is longer and bloodier. Well, it's Miike. What can you expect.
2) The Iyi clan retainers are bigger bastards this time around. First, this time Motome actually tells them he needs some time to take care of his family, but they ignore him. Second, the guy serving as Motome's second man during harakiri seemed unusually sadistic. Third, the chief retainer is now more like a quirky supervillain; has a white cat like Blofeld from the James Bond series (white cats are actually a leitmotif in this movie, it seems) and walks with a limp, which makes me snicker because this way he reminds me of herr Flick from the British sitcom 'Allo, 'Allo!
3) This time around it's immediately revealed that the three retainers Tsugumo chooses as his second men were killed by him (by "immediately revealed" I mean 40 minutes in). This is just stupid because it makes for a considerably less suspenseful viewing than the original.
4) Remember the battle in the grass field with the retainer in the '62 version? Well, it isn't here anymore. In this film, Tsugumo takes out all three retainers at once, in a scene that's way too short to enjoy.
5) The final battle of Tsugumo vs. the Iyi clan is a bit longer, but two major things were changed: first of all, Tsugumo now sports a bamboo blade instead of a true katana during the fight. Secondly, it snows all the time during the battle. Exactly why I'm not sure, except for actually giving a reason for the film to be in 3D.
6) In Kobayashi's film's ending, Tsugumo is quickly shot down by the musket-bearing retainers. In Miike's version, he is killed by swordsmen, but not before making a cheesy dramatic speech.
The cinematography is great and stays true to Kobayashi's original visions. The geometrical positioning of the shots and character composition isn't copied from Kobayashi, but gives it a new spin, what with the colors and all. It's a very well made film from a technical aspect. Then again, Miike is an experienced filmmaker so you can pretty much expect that to be true.
The music is a major letdown. Kobayashi's movie has a tense soundtrack aperiodically played on strings, which sounded weird to me at first, but I quickly got used to it and I realized it's a very unique and memorable score. It does a great job of raising the tension. Miike's film's music is tremendously forgettable - it's just your typical silent orchestral soundtrack we're so accustomed to nowadays. It's not as daring as the original, instead I can barely distinguish it from other, similar soundtracks.
Ebizô Ichikawa is a good replacement for Tatsuya Nakadai in his main role, but overall I prefer Nakadai because he manages to pull off complex emotions just by speaking in the same tone during the entire film - and this is hard to explain, but just by looking at him you really feel like everything that happened to Tsugumo also happened to Nakadai. Ichikawa is alright, but is not as rage-filled and imposing as Nakadai.
However, the major reason why the remake fails is the way the story itself is told. Half of the movie is spent on endless flashbacks of Tsugumo's life, which are a chore to watch and completely ruin the mood. The 1962 movie is highly unsettling, the message is laid out clearly and it's unbelievably tense the entire time. The 2011 movie is anything but suspenseful, clear or confrontational, it's horribly bland and Miike fails to deliver the message as passionately as Kobayashi did.
These are the major differences the remake offers:
1) Motome's harakiri scene is longer and bloodier. Well, it's Miike. What can you expect.
2) The Iyi clan retainers are bigger bastards this time around. First, this time Motome actually tells them he needs some time to take care of his family, but they ignore him. Second, the guy serving as Motome's second man during harakiri seemed unusually sadistic. Third, the chief retainer is now more like a quirky supervillain; has a white cat like Blofeld from the James Bond series (white cats are actually a leitmotif in this movie, it seems) and walks with a limp, which makes me snicker because this way he reminds me of herr Flick from the British sitcom 'Allo, 'Allo!
3) This time around it's immediately revealed that the three retainers Tsugumo chooses as his second men were killed by him (by "immediately revealed" I mean 40 minutes in). This is just stupid because it makes for a considerably less suspenseful viewing than the original.
4) Remember the battle in the grass field with the retainer in the '62 version? Well, it isn't here anymore. In this film, Tsugumo takes out all three retainers at once, in a scene that's way too short to enjoy.
5) The final battle of Tsugumo vs. the Iyi clan is a bit longer, but two major things were changed: first of all, Tsugumo now sports a bamboo blade instead of a true katana during the fight. Secondly, it snows all the time during the battle. Exactly why I'm not sure, except for actually giving a reason for the film to be in 3D.
6) In Kobayashi's film's ending, Tsugumo is quickly shot down by the musket-bearing retainers. In Miike's version, he is killed by swordsmen, but not before making a cheesy dramatic speech.
The cinematography is great and stays true to Kobayashi's original visions. The geometrical positioning of the shots and character composition isn't copied from Kobayashi, but gives it a new spin, what with the colors and all. It's a very well made film from a technical aspect. Then again, Miike is an experienced filmmaker so you can pretty much expect that to be true.
The music is a major letdown. Kobayashi's movie has a tense soundtrack aperiodically played on strings, which sounded weird to me at first, but I quickly got used to it and I realized it's a very unique and memorable score. It does a great job of raising the tension. Miike's film's music is tremendously forgettable - it's just your typical silent orchestral soundtrack we're so accustomed to nowadays. It's not as daring as the original, instead I can barely distinguish it from other, similar soundtracks.
Ebizô Ichikawa is a good replacement for Tatsuya Nakadai in his main role, but overall I prefer Nakadai because he manages to pull off complex emotions just by speaking in the same tone during the entire film - and this is hard to explain, but just by looking at him you really feel like everything that happened to Tsugumo also happened to Nakadai. Ichikawa is alright, but is not as rage-filled and imposing as Nakadai.
However, the major reason why the remake fails is the way the story itself is told. Half of the movie is spent on endless flashbacks of Tsugumo's life, which are a chore to watch and completely ruin the mood. The 1962 movie is highly unsettling, the message is laid out clearly and it's unbelievably tense the entire time. The 2011 movie is anything but suspenseful, clear or confrontational, it's horribly bland and Miike fails to deliver the message as passionately as Kobayashi did.