REEL JAPAN

Slow and steady, this quirky samurai film by Shigemichi Sugita moves inexorably to its bittersweet conclusion. At the center of this tale is a disabled and dependent warrior. His life has been a string of disappointments and near misses with happiness. Especially afflicted by bad luck in his relationships with women, his love for his great-niece whose happiness he places before his own, defines his actions in this film. An outstanding performance by the recently deceased icon of Japanese film, Tatsuya Nakadai, will leave a lasting impression as Sanosuke. At times gentle or sardonic, eccentric or universally humane, the characterizations always stick the landing. I remember well Tatsuya’s work in the NHK taiga drama FUURIN KAZAN, in which he played a cruel and wanton daimyo who provoked hatred even in his own children. It was another arresting performance and contrasts interestingly with this one in a career that spanned almost 70 years from 1953 to 2020. 

Playing Sanosuke’s niece, Nanami Sakuraba is engaging as a samurai’s daughter, pretty, neither exceptionally smart nor kind, but the “girl next door,” whose social class and marriageability lands her in hot water. Her timid father and overbearing mother are no help to her navigating these hazards.

Blessed with great performances, an intriguing script, well directed and photographed, though suffering from an inadequate and distracting musical score, A DUEL TALE should take its place alongside the dozen or so excellent low budget samurai films of the last decade and a half. Like SAMURAI ASTRONOMER, THE PASS, and SAMURAI PROMISE, it weaves its story on its own terms somehow evading the nefarious pressures that warp and mar many such films under the studio system. 

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