Miike's Hara-Kiri is beautifully directed, but
it's also depressing, boring in parts, and not terribly original.
I'm having a problem finding movies I'm interested in. I was watching the trailer for Blitz seeing if I could get into it enough to watch it, and I felt like I wanted to see something with swords. I had Hara-Kiri on my list of movies to watch, so I watched the trailer for that. I wasn't exactly sold, but I decided to go with it anyway. I wanted something with a little substance, even if I was running the risk of being bored.
Apparently, according to IMDb, the original was better. I
didn't even know there was an original. I found out about the remake when I was
looking through Ignatiy Vishnevetsky's reviews. He liked it, and I've always
been interested in Miike's stuff. 13 Assassins was good, although everything
before that was pretty crazy. I can't even believe I watched that stuff
anymore. Supposedly the original draws you in more, and there's more dialogue
between the father and the clan guy.
That would've been good, because my suspicions were right:
I got bored, especially in the middle. I really lost interested when they took
the focus away from the present-day stuff and started talking about how Hanshirô
knew Motome. The cinematography was great, though. I loved the camerawork and
the sets. It really was beautifully directed. I don't know why Miike shot it in
3D. That probably didn't add much, although it would've been a good effect with
the falling snow.
I liked the slow, deliberate pacing of the camera and
people's movements, and the fact that we saw what happened to Motome and then
afterward learned why it happened made it more interesting.
His life was so sad. Hanshirô never should've made him marry
Miho. He couldn't afford to. It's a really interesting situation to think
about, though. He was desperate to save Miho and Kingo, but he had to
understand, if you're going to go somewhere and ask to kill yourself, you'd
better be prepared to follow through with it. I think it did show a certain
lack of honor that he didn't have any intention of doing it. I guess he was
just acting in their best interest; they didn't get anything out of him killing
himself, either.
It's tough to look at the situation and say the clan was
justified in what they did, but you can't just have people showing up and
threatening to kill themselves unless you give them jobs or money. They
definitely should've given him a sword, though. He didn't bring a wooden sword
because he was bluffing; he did it because he had to sell his real one.
I didn't realize Hanshirô was Miho's father until the
flashback at the end when he's almost dead, so that would've changed a lot for
me during the movie. He looked so young, I thought he was just a friend of Motome.
I kept thinking, "I wonder how Hanshirô knows Motome?" I figured
Miho's father just told Hanshirô about what happened.
I liked what they did with having the clan have a fat cat,
and Motome's cat is skinny and then it dies. That was a bummer, though. And who
knew dropping some eggs could have such an impact? I think he should've been
more careful with them, though. Maybe even think ahead and bring a bag or
something to put them in.
I wasn't impressed with the fight scene. It was hard to tell what was
going on, and it was so long and drawn out. I just wanted them to stop running
around already. It's terrible that the Emperor had so much control over
everyone, and just because Motome's people joined his side too late they basically
all had to be poor and homeless and die.
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