Friday, June 20, 2014

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island is the 3rd of the films in the Samurai trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Toshirō Mifune stars as the main character, who in this film has given up his life as a wandering swordsman, declined the patronage of a powerful lord and retreated to a quiet life in a farming village. He does accept a challenge to a duel and fights that duel in this film. The trilogy takes place over the course of 12 years. These movies -especially the 1st and 3rd- are amazing to watch and definitely worth watching again.

I can't find an emmbeddable trailer online, but oddly enough found this:




Slant Magazine, which has a thorough plot description including screen shots, describes the film as "principally about the intersection of two extraordinary fencers: Musashi and Kojiro Sasaki. Everything in the story builds up to their inevitable duel." DVD Talk says the trilogy is "A colorful historical epic that also can serve as an excellent introduction to the jidai-geki ("period drama") genre and postwar Japanese film generally". Criterion Reflections opens by saying, "As the grand finale of an epic, heroic film trilogy, Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island delivers admirably on the promise put forth by its predecessors".

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