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Author Shuhei Fujisawa writes period-piece novels, but rather than focus on political leaders, war heroes, etc., his stories revolve around common men and unknown figures. "Twilight Samurai" is a moving film based on his best selling novel which features a samurai of low rank who dreams of living the peaceful simple life of a farmer and being home to watch his children grow.
Set in the nineteenth century during the final days of Japan’s Edo period, the movie shows a portrait of the end of the samurai (sans Tom Cruise, thank goodness, this seems to be a more realistic portrayal of the sentiments of samurai coming to terms with their dying profession), as we see the main character, the low ranked Seibei Iguchi, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, in this film mainly doing bookkeeping.
Although the movie revolves around the story of a samurai, it isn’t what you’d normally expect from a samurai movie. It’s not action packed, but rather it’s filled with rich character development and a strong story line. The story focuses around the low paid, 50-koku a year retainer, Seibei, who is nicknamed “Twilight Samurai” by his fellow bookkeepers. The term “twilight” might refer to him being viewed as a fading talent or his diminishing livlihood, or it might refer to the fact the he rushes home in the early evening to his family instead of going out for food and drinks with his fellow samurai. He becomes looked down upon as almost a laughing stock because he doesn't fit in due to his bedraggled appearance and lack of motivation to be a samurai.
Aside from growing tired of being a samurai, Seibei has reached this point due to turmoil and poverty. Seibei has difficulty keeping himself clean and kept since his wife died of consumption and he must now keep books as a samurai as well as do all of the housekeeping and the raising of his two daughters.
We see a glimmer of hope in Seibei’s eyes for the first time when he learns from his friend, Iinuma, that Iinuma’s little sister, Tomoe, has recently gotten a divorce from her drunken, abusive husband. We soon after discover that Tomoe was Seibei’s childhood friend who became separated from him later in life. Tomoe comes to visit and helps clean, gives loving attention to the children, and basically lights up their home. Seibei seems newly inspired, and out of his affection for Tomoe, ends up accepting a challenge to a duel (that was made for Iinuma) from her abusive ex. Tomoe is unaware of the fight and Seibei wants his noble deed to remain confidential, as not to worry her.
During this duel, in which Seibei fights with a wooden sword while the highly ranked officer he opposes uses a true samurai sword, Seibei wins and reveals that he is actually an excellent sword fighter, though he wants it kept a secret. Of course the secret gets out and Tomoe writes an affectionate letter to Seibei, but despite Seibei’s new happiness and Tomoe’s loving adoration of him, he rejects hope of rekindling a relationship because he doesn’t want to subject Tomoe to his life of poverty.
From this point we see Seibei make integrity-driven choices and as the story develops we see where those choices lead him. The story is told with true Zen Buddhist characteristics, slowly focusing on and developing a character rather than appealing to the short attention span culture of today with flashy scenes and frequent climaxes. It’s a deeply involving story about a good man struggling with his position in history and in his life, one in which anyone alienated or in a transition in life can relate to. Director Yoji Yamada uses low lighting resulting in beautifully understated cinematography, great character development, and an engrossing story to bring something very lovely and genuine to the table.
