is a 2014 Japanese film directed by

Takashi Koizumi Takashi Koizumi (小泉堯史 ''Koizumi Takashi'') (born November 6, 1944, in Mito) is a Japanese film director. After graduating from Waseda University, he served as an assistant director for Akira Kurosawa for many years. Filmography Award ...

Cast

Kōji Yakusho , known professionally as , is a Japanese actor. He is known internationally for his starring roles in ''Shall We Dance?'' (1996), ''Cure'' (1997), '' 13 Assassins'' (2010), '' The Third Murder'' (2017), '' The Blood of Wolves'' (2018), '' Und ...

as Shūkoku Toda *

Junichi Okada is an actor, fight choreographer and a former member of Japanese boy band V6. Career Music career In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in ''Johnny's Pre-School'', part of the NTV program . He passed the audition and joined Johnny & ...

as Shōzaburō Dan'no *

Maki Horikita is a Japanese former actress. During her career from 2003 until 2017, she starred in numerous Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies, including roles in '' Nobuta wo Produce'', ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi ...

as Kaoru Toda *

Mieko Harada is a Japanese actress. She has played various roles in many films and Japanese television drama series since 1974. Career Harada most notably portrayed Lady Kaede in Akira Kurosawa's 1985 film '' Ran'', and further collaborated with him in h ...

as Orie Toda *

Shinobu Terajima is a Japanese actress. Her feature films include '' Akame 48 Waterfalls'' (2003) and '' Vibrator'' (2003). For her role in ''Caterpillar'' (2010), Terajima won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 60th Berlin Film Festival while her perform ...

Hisashi Igawa Hisashi Igawa (井川比佐志 born 17 November 1936) is a Japanese actor who has appeared in such films as Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six ...

Kenichi Yajima is a Japanese actor. Career Graduating from Meiji Gakuin University, Yajima debuted as an actor in 1981. A frequent player in the films of Masato Harada, Yajima often plays yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized c ...

Plot

A retired samurai must redeem himself for a crime that he committed earlier in his life. A squire is sent by the prime minister of Japan to keep watch over him.

Development

Teruyo Nogami is a Japanese film script supervisor and author. She is best known for her work on many of Akira Kurosawa's films, a partnership that began in 1950. Life and career Nogami was born in Tokyo as the daughter of Iwao Nogami, a scholar of German ...

, who was a longtime assistant of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

, worked as a special adviser on the film, and joined the director and star for a question and answer session about the film. The film was based on an award-winning novel by Rin Hamuro. Koizumi claimed that he did not want to send any political messages with the film and instead intended to portray the real life events as accurately as possible.

Reception

The film debuted at number two in the Japanese box office and grossed a total of $8,804,424 in Japan.

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

awarded the film a score of five out of ten, saying that the film failed to invoke the film of Akira Kurosawa that it was influenced by. [Though Koizumi and his veteran staff try to channel that sensibility, they are not Kurosawa, and though “A Samurai Chronicle” echoes the master’s work, it lacks his vivifying presence.

References

External lists

*http://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/catalog/FilmDetail.php?id=17808 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samurai Chronicle 2014 films 2010s samurai films 2010s Japanese films 2010s Japanese-language films Films about miscarriage of justice Films scored by Takashi Kako