The Twilight Samurai movie

Ranked #7,210 in Entertainment, #80,147 overall

A new wave of samurai movies

The first film in Yamada Yoji's acclaimed samurai trilogy,The Twilight Samurai presents a touching cinematic masterpiece about love and agony starring Sanada Hiroyuki (The Last Samurai) and Miyazawa Rie.

Yamada Yoji has made every effort to display the complexities of the ancient Japanese culture and the art of sword fighting, which becomes obvious in this monumental movie whose plot is based on three short stories from popular novelist Fujisawa Shuhei.

Summary

Original title: Tasogare SeibeiTasogare Seibei photo 18
Country: Japan
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese
Year: 2002
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
Runtime: 129
Company: Hakuhodo, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), Sumitomo Corporation

The times are changing.

"When they do, I'll give up samurai status and become a farmer. That's what I'm suited for."

a classic tale of honor,
love, and courage

Plot

Tasogare Seibei photo 19

During the last days of Japan's Edo period, a samurai named Seibei is struggling between supporting his poor family and his duty as a samurai. The days of the samurai are almost over now, duels are forbidden and the sword is no longer an object of respect as it was used to be. Seibei's duties are now limited to that of a simple clerk in the clan office. Since the death of his beloved wife, Seibei's life has never been so hard. With two young girls, a sick mother at home and 50 bales of rice a year, Seibei wishes he could live a peaceful life as a peasant instead of a poor one as a samurai.

However, things take another turn when Tomoe, his old friend's young sister, is coming back to live in the village. Seibei and Tomoe have been friends since their childhood, but destiny has separated them and now they might have a chance to make a new start together.

Cast

Director:
Yamada Yoji as director

(Hint: hover on image for cast info, images are also clickable)
Actors and actresses:
Sanada, HiroyukiMiyazawa, RieKobayashi, NenjiOsugi, RenFukikoshi, MitsuruIto, Miki

Yamada Yoji's samurai trilogy

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Curious facts

Did you know that..

  • Yoji Yamada

    Director Yamada Yoji, popular for his series "It's Tough Being a Man" ("Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo") which started in 1969 and is the world's longest theatrical film series about a bad luck lovelorn peddler named Tora San, has won innumerable awards for his work.

  • The Twilight Samurai is Yamada's 77th film and marks his 41st year as a director since his first feature, Stranger Upstairs (Nikai no Tanin).

  • The movie is based on three short novels by Shuhei Fujisawa: "Tasogare Seibei (Twilight Seibei)", "Hoito Sukehachi (Sukehachi, the Beggar)" and "Takemitsu Shimatsu (Record of a Bamboo Sword)".

  • Shuhei Fujisawa is one of Japan's most revered authors of samurai fictionis.Tasogare Seibei photo 16 Over fifty of his books were published with circulation about 23 millions copies, including both full-length novels and short story anthologies through the course of his lifetime. In 1973, Shuhei received the Naoki Award for Ansatsu No Nenrin (Annals of Assassination), establishing himself as a leading author of period stories. He would go on to win six further prestigious literary awards.

  • This film is the first screen adaptation of Fujisawa's novels and the first samurai film for director Yamada.

  • This meditative character-driven elegy swept the 26th Japanese Academy Awards in 2002, winning 12 of 14 awards (the second-highest number ever since Masayuki Suo's "Shall We Dance?",1996) including Best Picture and Best Director recognition for veteran director Yamada, as well as the Kinema Junpo magazine Best One prize (considered Japan's most prestigious award).

    Yamada also walked away with the First Hawaiian Bank Golden Maile Award for Best Film Feature at Hawaii International Film Festival in 2003.

  • Tasogare Seibei photo 20Rest 11 Twilight Samurai's wins of the Japanese Academy includes Best Actor (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Supporting Actor (Min Tanaka), Best Actress (Rie Miyazawa), Newcomer of the Year (Min Tanaka), Best Screenplay (Yoshitaka Asama, Yoji Yamada), Best Editing (Iwao Ishii), Best Cinematography (Mutsuo Naganuma), Best Art Direction (Yoshinobu Nishioka, Mitsuo Degawa), Best Lighting (Genken Nakaoka), Best Music Score (Isao Tomita), Best Sound (Kazumi Kishida).

  • Another great film's archivment is nomination for an Oscar in 2004 for Best Foreign Language Film, ultimately losing to Canada's Les Invasions Barbares.

  • In a press statement, director Yamada notes, "At last, the time has come for realizing my long-cherished dream, to portray the realm of Shuhei Fujisawa on the screen with cinematic beauty and power. To challenge a truly authentic samurai movie is replete with excitement."

  • Thorough and comprehensive investigations in Edo epoch and preparation for filming took Yoji Yamada almost one year.

  • Tasogare Seibei photo 21Final sword duel was shooting over whole week. Real short sword masters were invited for production. Yoji Yamada strived to show real fight not only beautiful and graceful choreography.

  • Costums were created by older daughter of famous Akira Kurosawa - Kazuko Kurosawa, who worked with her father since filming "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams".

  • Yamada's film helped to spark a revival in both historical filmmaking and the samurai genre in Japan, where such things had fallen out of fashion.

Tasogare Seibei Soundtrack

original score version

Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai) Soundtrack (original score version) / Original SoundtrackTasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai) Soundtrack
(original score version)


Original soundtrack to the film "Tasogare no Seibei" featuring main theme by Isao Tomita, theme song by Yosui Inoue, and more!

The Twilight Samurai OST

Track Artist Album  
Because I'm A Girl (The Twilight Samurai OST) The The Band 2008 Bridge Album

The Twilight Samurai trailers and interviews

たそがれ清兵衛 Tasogare Seibei trailer (English subtitled) 1 point

Hiroyuki Sanada USA Interview 0 points

たそがれ清兵衛 Tasogare Seibei trailer (French subtitled) 0 points

The Twilight Samurai DVDs

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Further reading

P.S.

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The Twilight Samurai DVD 

The Twilight Samurai

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The Twilight Samurai OST 

Because I'm A Girl (The Twilight Samurai OST)

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Yamada Yoji's Samurai Trilogy 

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