The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurojo)

From my press notes for Janus :  “The master of horror label fits Kurosawa even as it belies the true range of his output, and the deceptive elasticity of his style as well. The movie version of The Samurai and the Prisoner—faithfully adapted by the director from…

Adam Nayman

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kokurojo is a bit of Shakespeare and a bit of Samurai Columbo. I could have watched it for hours.

Brian Tallerico

Invoked several times across his anomalous new feature, a curious but plodding 16th century mystery-drama set within the walls of a Japanese castle as Nobunaga Oda’s army closes in on it, the Buddhist phrase “advance to paradise, retreat into hell” contains a backwards…

davidehrlich

Titi Frémaux qui dit « Les américains font des westerns, les indiens font des Bollywood, et les japonais font des films de samuraïs » ok mon reuf

PafLeMeilleur

I wish I had the mental capacity to enjoy this fully— especially since so much of what’s here is usually right up my alley. Alas!  Final 30 really grabbed my attention when the conversation became much more focused on the ideas of faith and divine punishment… But it takes…

claira curtis

THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER is an intricately told samurai drama that functions simultaneously as a detective story, a tense power struggle of loyalty and betrayal, and a display of the qualities desperately needed in true leadership. Masahiro Motoki delivers a commanding…

Matt Neglia

The best Japanese film at Cannes is KOKUROJO — a Cloud follow-up, Kubi riposte, Knives Out farce, and PS5 exclusive all in one. Also feels like Kiyoshi Kurosawa stared at his surname for too long one day and went "sure, why not"

Blake Simons

Kurosawa taking on a jidaigeki film may feel like a departure from the stories we are most familiar with, after all it’s his first period drama tackling a genre that has some of the greatest stories in film. However, Kurosawa’s adaptation of Yonezawa Honobu’s book shows how…

Evan

At first I was like “oh fun! Samurai whodunit! Katanas Out … Swords Out, Wake Up Beheaded Man!” Then I’m like wait we really out here weaponizing people’s fears about what comes after death which makes them more pliable to be used as agents of state violence. If followers…

Zachary Lee