Harakiri
Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi
Written by: Shinobu Hashimoto
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentaro Mikuni, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita

Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri is a sort of anti-samurai film that explores honour and moral decency within the strict adherence to a centuries old code. Kobayahsi’s criticisms hurled towards this authoritative body is just as relevant now as it was in Edo period Japan. The result is a film that plays with the audience as it peels back the layers, strategically revealing plot revelations that tantalize the audience, creating a truly engrossing cinematic experience.

Hanshiro Tsugumo, a Ronin Samurai, enters the estate of the Lyi Clan in search of a courtyard to perform Harakiri; an act of ritual suicide through disembowelment. Within the Bushido code, it’s used both as punishment or voluntarily by a samurai looking to die with honour. In this case, Hanshiro is out of work due to the current time of peace and rather than live in endless poverty, decides to take his life honourably. When he presents his proposal to the counsellor of the clan, he’s told a story about a young Ronin named Motome Chijiiwa who had made the same request shortly before him. Chijiiwa’s proposal was met with skepticism due to a high number of desperate Ronin making a habit of approaching the clan requesting harakiri in hopes to either be offered a position as a retainer or given food and money to go away. In this case, they called Chijiiwa’s bluff and slowly discovered his intentions weren’t honest. His blades were made of bamboo and his sudden request to postpone the ceremony was met with aggression from the clan, resulting in a forced harakiri using his own bamboo blade; an extremely long and painful way to die. Even after hearing this cautionary tale, Hanshiro insists he would like to go through with the ceremony.

As the story progresses, Hanshiro’s connection to Chijiiwa is slowly revealed. I don’t want to get into the details here, but we discover that Hanshiro is on a sort of revenge mission, challenging the actions of the Lyi Clan and forcing them to question their stubborn allegiance to their traditions. Director Masaki Kobayashi slowly and deliberately unravels the plot, revealing all of the connections and major revelations with great care. The use of the framing device (Hanshiro learning of the fate of Chijiiwa and then revealing his connection to him) is extremely effective and seems inspired by the films of Kobayashi’s colleague, Akira Kurosawa. At times, the story is so desperate and melancholy that it reminded me of a Lars Von Trier film (oddly enough, Dancer in the Dark comes to mind). There’s a clear sense of cynicism aimed towards the authority held by the samurai, which is easily applicable to any number of modern day bodies of power, throwing it’s weight around in an overzealous and irresponsible fashion. While most of the film is dialogue based, there are some great flashes of action. In on scene, Hanshiro recalls a fight in which he claimed the topknot of a rival samurai; a battle which takes place in a windy field of tall grass. The climax of the film features an awesome sword fight in which Hanshiro attempts to fend off multiple retainers, leading to a final bloody outcome. His most effective form of revenge however, is not in the bodies he leaves in the Lyi courtyard, but rather the clever undermining of the honour of the Lyi Clan, devastating their leader and exposing the samurai code as fraudulent. It’s certainly the most powerful scene in the film.

Harakiri looks great on blu ray. Framed within a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and filmed in beautiful black and white, the film retains a great sense of detail, right down to the fabric of the samurai’s robes and the revealing fake hairlines on the wig wearing actors, which I think even on DVD is probably obvious. There’s a natural grain present throughout and the photography features just the right amount of contrast. The audio presented with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack that sounds great. As for special features, the disc contains multiple video interviews featuring Japanese film historian Donald Richie, director Masaki Kobayashi, star Tatsuya Nakadai, and screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto. All of these features were originally created for the 2005 DVD release of the film and are presented in 1080i. It all adds up to another worthwhile release from the Criterion Collection. — Jay C.

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