99 minutos
This subversive period film features a hotheaded young samurai, Kurodo, who threatens to commit harakiri in response to the humiliation meted out to his family by the Shogun. The film critiques the inhumanity of feudal obligations, and Uchida’s direction slyly satirizes the contemporary cinematic audience, whose taste for onscreen bloodshed is mirrored in a crowd gathering to watch the protagonist’s planned suicide. The Master Spearman is imbued with Uchida’s characteristic blend of dark humor and stylized action, and Ryutaro Otomo gives an admirable performance in the lead.
Ryutaro Otomo
Takasada Tomita
Chikage Awashima
Sakon Murayama
Hiromi Hanazono
Umeme
Isao Yamagata
Mitsunari Ishida
Kensaku Hara
Kazunobu Tomita
Masao Oda
Kichibei
Eitarō Ozawa
Ieyasu Tokugawa
Yataro Kurokawa
Chiezō Kataoka
Toshinaga Maeda
Ryōsuke Kagawa
Eijirō Kataoka
Kajō Onoe
Fujio Suga
Kinnosuke Takamatsu
Hisao Toake
Shin Tokudaiji
Eijirō Tōno
