Samurai Rebellion

Another film from the 1967 New York Film Festival was Samurai Rebellion, an excellent film from Masaki Kobayashi. It stars Toshiro Mifune, who played samurais in many films by Akira Kurosawa, but this was his first for Kobayashi. Indeed he is a samurai, but if you're expecting a lot of action, you have to wait. It's well worth it.

Mifune is the best swordsman in Edo, and is a vassal to the feudal lord. His closest rival is his friend (Tatsuya Nakadai), but they will not duel because they are too close to each other.

One day Mifune gets startling news from an advisor to the lord. A concubine (Yoko Tsukasa) has been kicked out of the palace for daring to slap her lord. She has already bore him a son, but since that child is not the heir she is sent packing. The lord has decided she will marry Mifune's son (Go Kato).

The family is amazed and horrified at this news, especially Mifune's shrewish wife. After trying to wriggle out of it, Mifune agrees when Kato says he will do it. To everyone's surprise, Kato and Tsukasa's fall deeply in love. They have a baby daughter. Then the heir dies. The lord's heir is now Tsukasa's son, and she is ordered to return to the palace. Mifune and Kato are outraged and refuse. This is not good for their family.

So, despite it being a samurai film, the first three-quarters are really a domestic drama, and at times it becomes a little melodramatic.But the samurai film is like the Western in American cinema--it has it's tropes and must-have scenes. Of course there will be showdowns, where Mifune shows his great skill. And of course the foreshadowing of Mifune and Nakadai refusing to fight will end up being turned on its head.

I was engaged through the whole movie (I can tell if I don't pause to check my phone), particularly because of Kobayashi's use of the camera. It's often moving, following characters, or sliding along the edge of a sword. When a character makes a realization, he likes to zoom in, which could be comic but it done in such a way as to be dramatic without being silly.

Samurai Rebellion is also a great film about fathers and sons. Mifune will fight to the death for his son, because he tells him that his love for his wife has renewed his spirit (he was forced into marriage, and says there has not been one moment of love). As they stand side by side, ready to face a small army of swordsman, I kind of got chills.