TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bloodshed Throne Productions What makes this film so intriguing? There's so much about it that makes it so fun and yet so good. It pays great homage to its background. It gives us a view of the Zatoichi samurai film http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056714/?ref_=nv_sr_1) in terms of its slow-paced movement and action as well as the plot and emotion of a Kurosawa film (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000041/? ref_=nv_sr_1#director).There are also hints of fantastic direction. The poster features the famous silhouette fight, which went on to inspire another one in Tarantino's Kill Bill (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/? ref_=nv_sr_1). The other great thing about this film is it's use of fantastic, trendy rock and pop music which really adds something to an artsy samurai movie. It gives a very nice, slick tone to the movie as well.I understand that the film is also called SF volume 1. Why isn't there a volume 2, I wonder?

popcorninhell Do not be alarmed or adjust your screen; Samurai Fiction is meant to look this way. Samurai Fiction is supposed to look like it was violently ripped out of time and plunged into the late-nineties like the sudden reappearance of the fedora. Yes it feels silly, yes it looks silly but if you manage to see through all the off-kilter, jarringly anarchistic and sinfully stylistic liberties you'll find Samurai Fiction is...well it just is.The plot is set when samurai Kazamatsuri (Hotei) steals a precious sword from his former clan. Against the advice of his father (and basically everyone) the wide-eyed Inukai Heishiro (Fukikoshi) promises to take the sword back from the duplicitous Kazamatsuri. Along the way Inukai meets the elderly Hanbei Kurosawa (Kazama) and his daughter Koharu (Ogawa). After Heishiro has a brief skirmish with Kazamatsuri, the father-daughter pair decide to help him on his quest to recover the clan's sword.If this all sounds like a seemingly flattering emulation of the work of Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi what on earth tipped you off? Was it the details of the plot, the art direction which expertly recreates the period, or was it the fact that characters in the film are literally named after the directors? There is something near- noble about the way director Hiroyuki Nakano attempts to mimic the intensity of the great samurai films of yore. Like the works of Guy Maddin, Samurai Fiction seems to come from a weird parallel universe where the visuals are constructionist but the way the story is told is purely contemporary. You can also tell Nakano cut his teeth on Japanese TV and the works of early Quentin Tarantino to get where he is.Nakano also left his mark as a music video director for MTV Japan and boy can you tell. The largely black and white cinematography clashes with the film's ear-piercing score which features some electric- guitar laden rock music, downright annoying Japanese pop and, I kid you not, the elderly Morio Kazama playing "My Old Kentucky Home" on a musical saw. Nakano also sets up some head- cocking tableaux that for the life of me I can't tell if they're meant to homage 1980's pensive staring by a beach bonfire or lampooning such overused clichés of simmering cool-guy bravado. What's clear is Nakano has created an atonal echo chamber of discordant themes, homages, references and parodies.The DVD/Bluray comes with a very indulgent and very Japanese making- of documentary called Samurai Non-Fiction. In it you can see producers and crew members look on with puzzlement and confusion while Nakano explains his goals for the film. "I've only recently seen some of the old movies. I like them but they could be better." In the background cinematographer Yujiro Yajima squirms uncomfortably as we cut to one of the producers quite frankly expressing his doubts that Nakano can pull off his crackpot, MTV- infused vision for samurai films in the new millennium.Samurai Fiction, despite it's attempt to try something new, is not a great film. The story is un-engaging adding nothing as far as post- modern commentary or new twists and turns. To stop audiences from being lulled into a stupor, the film exposes itself with a topsy- turvy array of bold stylistic choices and odd blaring musical interludes that do nothing but draw attention to themselves. Garish, cartoony and stuck in time, Samurai Fiction might just be unique enough to garner a cult following. But for those who care for actual samurai fiction, or failing that a passing interest in decent movies, I wouldn't bother with Samurai Fiction.

Akira-36 If only every samurai flick from Japan is this cool, then I'd be a very happy man. But then again here lies the greatness of Samurai Fiction. It does not conform to the common rules of period film making. In fact, director Hiroyuki Nakano creates a genuinely fresh look at that age-old jidaigeki genre, by doing everything in the opposite direction. His sense of humour is slick, his presentation stylish and by the end of the movie you can not avoid being moved by the heart of the story. It's actually cathartic for me, a fan of samurai films and Japanese drama/comedy. Don't be misled by the trailer though, Nakano takes on the film is far from creating a parody of the likes of Kurosawa. SF is essentially a fresh comedy which happens to be set in the Edo period, because it works so well in conveying his message to the audience.The casting is pitch-perfect, characterization is sublime, editing is effective and smartly executed, while the direction is top-notch and funky. You would also love the art direction, cinematography and best of all the soundtrack of the film. The music pieces themselves are melody narrator of the story, as they carry you throughout the journey and mark transitions of the scenes so effectively.I must say Samurai Fiction will be half as good without the music, so a special praise should go the the talented Tomoyasu Hotei, who himself turned in such a cool performance as the ronin Kazamatsuri. He's probably the most suave renegade on film after the great Toshiro Mifune. The film directly opens with a promise of a sequel by directly entitling the movie Episode One: Samurai Fiction. Then we jump backward all the way to the year 1696, the Edo Period. The narrator then states that the character you see on the screen was the narrator himself, 300 years ago. The film then closes with the same narrator saying that it would take him a long time to learn the lesson of love. Enter the sequel: Episode 2002: Stereo Future. Can't wait to watch it!!!

regi0n2fan "Samurai Fiction": Definitely worth watching - I thought it was a little slow at first (and a little sparse and inconsistent with the humour), but it definitely got better at the end. It won't make you more of a Hotei Tomoyasu fan (boy, he looks weird - almost like a manga character... like "Jei" in Stan Sakai's "Usagi Yojimbo"), and the swordplay won't exactly blow you away, but the adaptation of the black & white (with selective colour, a la "Rumblefish") genre is excellent. Being a Kurosawa fan, I especially liked the general "feel" of the cinematography and the video transfer, as it was digitally modified to add graininess and capture that circa-1950's TOHO ambiance. Critical attention was paid to camera angles, set design, character development and mannerisms, all playing true to the Kurosawa-esque model and at the same time sparing no opportunity for the sight gag and comedic element. Yes, for the Hirosue Ryoko fans-in-denial, the female lead (Ogawa Tamaki) bears a somewhat close resemblance (slightly less boyish), but that's besides the point. The movie felt like it was part of an Ulfuls music video at times (I think it was "Guts Daze"), which was exactly what made it so good. Highly recommended.