Samurai Rebellion

Masaki Kobayashi returning, after Harakiri, to the same question: at what point can a man who is expected to obey his lord refuse. Isaburo is a fine swordsman with no voice in his own house; his marriage was arranged and he has spent years submitting. One day the lord marries off a concubine who has fallen out of favour to Isaburo's son. The young couple come to love each other and are happy. Then the lord's son dies, the concubine's child becomes the heir, and the court wants her back. The family refuses, and the second half is a household resisting its own lord. Toshiro Mifune plays Isaburo, with Tatsuya Nakadai as his old friend on the other side. The duel between them is counted among the best scenes in the genre. It is black and white and widescreen; Kobayashi composes constantly in symmetry, and that order becomes the visual form of the system itself. Near the top of the genre for anyone who likes samurai films and the conflict between the individual and order. For a viewer expecting action the fighting comes very late; the first hour is entirely talk.