is a 2019 Japanese-British historical action adventure film directed by Bernard Rose and starring Takeru Satoh, Nana Komatsu and

Mirai Moriyama is a Japanese actor and dancer. Life and career Moriyama started training in dance when he was 5 years old. He trained in jazz dance, tap dance, ballet and hip-hop, and he appeared in several stage roles. He officially made his stage debut with ...

. It is based on the 2014 novel ''The Marathon Samurai: Five Tales of Japan’s First Marathon'' by Akihiro Dobashi, itself inspired by the origin story of the

Ansei Toashi Ansei Tōashi or Ansei-no-Tōashi was a footrace open to samurai of the Annaka Domain, of approximately 30 kilometers, during the Ansei, Ansei era (1854–1860) of Japan. It has been nicknamed the "Samurai Marathon". Though forgotten for a long tim ...

30-km footrace held annually in Annaka City.

Cast

* Takeru Satoh as Karasawa Jinnai * Nana Komatsu as Princess Yuki *

as Tsujimura Heikurō * Shōta Sometani as Uesugi Hironoshin *

Munetaka Aoki is a Japanese actor. He played Sanosuke Sagara in the live action adaptation of the manga and anime series '' Rurouni Kenshin''. He is married to Japanese actress and model Yūka. Filmography Film *'' Battle Royale II'' (2003) *''Fly, Daddy, ...

as Ueki Yoshikuni *Ryu Kohata * Yuta Koseki *Motoki Fukami *Shinsuke Katō *Joey Iwanaga *Ruka Wakabayashi *

Mariko Tsutsui is a Japanese actress. Personal life Tsutsui graduated from Kōfu Daiichi High School in Yamanashi Prefecture. She dropped out of Aoyama Gakuin University. She later graduated from the Waseda University School of Social Sciences. As well as a ...

* Mugi Kadowaki *Nao * Junko Abe * Taishi Nakagawa *

Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. Jac ...

as Kurita Mataemon *

Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an Italian-born American actor and film director. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and the half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for hi ...

as Commodore Perry *

Etsushi Toyokawa is a Japanese actor. Biography Born in Yao, Osaka, he studied at Shimizudani High School, and eventually dropped out of Kwansei Gakuin University to pursue a career in acting. He began by joining the sho-gekijo theatrical troupe "Under Thir ...

as Ioki Suketora *

Hiroki Hasegawa , nicknamed , (born March 7, 1977 in Tokyo) is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. Trained as a stage actor at the Bungaku-za after graduating from Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research unive ...

as Itakura Katsuakira

Release

The film was released in theaters in Japan in February 2019. It was later featured at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all t ...

in June 2019. Well Go USA Entertainment acquired North American distribution rights to the film in July 2019. The film was released on VOD and digital platforms in May 2020. It was also released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States on July 21, 2020.

Reception

The film has rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. James Hadfield of ''

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 b ...

'' awarded the film three stars out of five.

References

External links

* * {{Philip Glass 2010s Japanese-language films Japanese action adventure films British action adventure films 2010s action adventure films 2019 action films Films scored by Philip Glass Films directed by Bernard Rose (director) Films produced by Jeremy Thomas Films based on Japanese novels Films set in Bakumatsu 2010s English-language films 2010s British films 2010s Japanese films