REEL JAPAN

Insights into Japanese cinema and television

recent posts

  • Review of THE PASS: FINAL DAYS OF THE SAMURAI (Tōge Saigo no Samurai) 2022

    Score: 8/10

    A War Film of Quiet Introspection:

    Two scenes stand out for their metaphorical poetry: Near the beginning, our protagonist, an elder samurai, explains to an inquisitive young lady that he admires crows because they always fly towards the sun. Worried, she admonishes him that he will go blind if he also gazes at the sun. Holding up a candle between their faces, he looks straight into the flame and invites her to do so. At the end of the film, the director shifts this perspective to the audience’s gaze as the warrior contemplates his own fate. 

    The setting is eastern Japan, at the outbreak of the Boshin War that ended the Edo Shogunate’s rule and transformed Japan. Lord Kawai Tsugunosuke is the chief vassal of the lord of Nagaoka, one of the stalwart supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Our elder samurai is torn between his loyalty to his lord and his desire to keep his small and fragile domain out of this destructive conflagration. 

    Yakusho Koji, (The Days), one of Japan’s most beloved actors, manages to keep his character relatable despite seeming to be an utterly stoic superhuman leader spouting endless axioms of bushido or confucian literature. He and the script accomplish this by showcasing his inner disappointment in his fellow humanity as well as the many failures he experiences in making peace AND war, despite making all the right efforts stubbornly.  

    Much is made of the loyalty of his male underlings and servants but the film mostly focuses on two females. His wife, played by Matsu Takako, gives an intriguing performance showcasing both her vulnerability and resilience. The actress, who gave terrific turns in QUARTET and THEIR MARRIAGE, amongst many others, almost steals the film from its capable lead. 

    THE PASS, with its frequent allusions to Aizu and other Shogunate loyalists, inevitably reminds me of the NHK taiga drama YAE NO SAKURA, which illustrates the tragic downfall of these clans during the brutal Boshin War. It was a fine taiga, but would have been even better under this director’s deft guidance. Takashi Koizumi, who has directed seven films and previously spent years as Kurosawa Akira’s assistant director, has previously directed and written other excellent small-budget samurai epics where the story is told in no hurry with competent but never excessive battle scenes. In each case the  viewer will be rewarded by a narrative that concentrates on clarity and characterization. 

    © ReelJapan.com November 2025 all rights reserved

  • Review of LETTERS FROM THE MOUNTAIN (Amidado Dayori) 2002

    Score: 8/10

    This film appears to have a message, and director Takashi Koizumi tries very hard to show rather than tell it. The cast ranges in age from schoolchildren to nono-generians and Koizumi has herded them into the mountains near Nagano, taking care to film across four seasons. What slowly unfurls like a fiddlehead in June is a sweeping story of a community that helps each other through tragedies and losses. We see through the eyes of Takao (Terao Akira) recently relocated from the big city to his childhood village with his “big city doctor” wife, Michiko (Higuchi Kanako). We get to know the couple by watching how they get to know the locals, and the most salient facts of their story are not revealed to us until the third act. 

    The main cast of seven includes the excellent Terao and Higuchi, their ninety something neighbor (Tanie Kitabayashi), the young mute woman who writes the local paper (Konishi Manami), plus Takao’s old schoolteacher and his wife (Tamura Takahiro and Kagawa Kyoko). Also featured is Yoshioka Hidetaka as a doctor, the actor no stranger to medical roles. All are portrayed in compelling performances, mostly by veterans and icons of Japanese cinema and television. The film is chock full of beautiful vistas, lush gardens, and pithy wisdom of the rustic variety.  At every point the story contrasts youth and age, experience and innocence, mentors and apprentices. 

    Through much of the film, very little seems to happen. Eventually events surge forward. These plot developments should not come as a surprise because the seeds were planted early, yet surprise they will because we  the audience will have already planted our feet on a silent mountainside. Halfway in, anything too dramatic will disturb this meditation. Nevertheless, Koizumi juggles his storytelling responsibilities without losing integrity. Despite the excellent cast, this is really a director’s film. Some will take it as a slice of (rural) life, others will take away something more profound. 

    © ReelJapan.com November 2025 all rights reserved