FOR ME, IT BECAME TOO TOUCHY-FEELY, too soap operatic. Then too, the writing and directing didn’t break any new ground or remind me of the many great movies of its genre.

Shrug. Oh well.

Hirokazu Kore-Eda is an award winning director known for his films “Aruitemo aruitemo”, “Wonderful Life”, “Dare mo Shiranai” and “Maboroshi no Hikari” released a film to theaters in Japan in 2006 titled “Hana Yori mo Naho”.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“HANA” is presented in 16:9 and the picture quality tends to show some differences. Some that try to make the film look aged and then sometimes you get picture quality that is good. But for the most part, picture quality for the DVD is good. Cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki is able to capture the beauty of Japan but also the grimy and dirty row houses and livelihood of the peasants in the area. The set design in making sure things look quite realistic was really impressive.

As for audio, the film is presented in Japanese 5.1 Surround Sound and English Stereo. For the Japanese audio, the film is primarily dialogue and music driven, so you can expect a lot of the film to be front and center channel driven while certain scenes such as a rain storms utilizing the surround channels. Dialogue is clear and understandable and I did. The English dub is included and I listened to a small part of it and for the most part, FUNimation Entertainment is known to hire good voice actors for their anime and for the most part utilize them for their live action films. Personally, I’m not very into English dubs of Asian cinema but it is offered for those who can not stand films with subtitles.

Subtitles are only in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“HANA: The Tale of the a Reluctant Samurai” comes with the following special features:

* Opening Day Stage Greetings – (3:15) The Director and cast is interviewed in front of an audience during the opening screening about the film.

* Original Trailer – (1:46) Three theatrical trailers (in Japanese but with English subtitles).

* FUNimation Entertainment trailers – Trailers for FUNimation Entertainment live action films and anime series.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Lighthearted and entertaining, “HANA: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai” is a rare samurai film that you will ever see presented in this manner.

“HANA: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai” is quite an interesting film. Where most samurai films are about the fighting, the bushido way or getting revenge, Director Hirokazu Kore-Eda does things differently and poses the question, why get revenge?

I’ve read on the Internet that Kore-Eda was inspired by the events of 9/11 and with many people, there is this mindset of “an eye-for-an-eye”. In this case, the main protagonist, Soza, who is one of the sons that is asked to exact revenge after his father is killed over a petty disagreement during a game.

Soza knows he must avenge his family’s honor but at the same time, living at the row houses and away from his own family who are very stuck on getting revenge and restoring the family’s name, those at the row houses and were former retainers of their Lord are just more focused on surviving and getting by with what they have. Those who were once samurai’s who killed are now trying to make a living and raising their family.

He questions morality and what has he accomplished in his life. He spent three years of his young life for looking for his father’s killer and yet, he has not lived life. At least his father got to teach him how to play a game of “Go” but now that he has grown close to a family, he wants to give back. But the film also makes the viewer see how Soza who finds his father’s killer, also observe the life he has with his own family and having a newborn and a young boy. And you can tell Soza is tormented because as much as he wants revenge, he also has compassion. Very rarely do you see a film that shows the protagonist’s foe in such a way.

On the pop culture end, Rie Miyazawa has always been a spectacular actress and she’s coming a long way since her younger years and has become one of Japan’s most popular actresses to have in a film. As for the main star, Junichi Okada, it’s quite interesting because I have followed his career as a singer in the boy band V6 (and Coming Century) and he’s always been the more serious of the younger members and his television roles seem to have reflect that. But for “HANA: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai”, he brings a sense of emotion through his eyes and facial expressions of a confused character. He does a great job of playing the role of Soza.And the film also stars a good number of well-known talent from Japan and even comedians as well.

If there was one thing that some may complain about is the film’s duration. It is a long film at 2:08 minutes and it’s not an action film where the time goes by quickly. So, this is one of those films where you want to make sure you that you are fully alert, wide awake and ready to take in.

The film is very lighthearted in nature and one should not think this is your average samurai movie because it’s not. “HANA: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai” really deconstructs the legend of the samurai but with good balance of comedy drama makes this film worthwhile.

I have not seen a movie as boring as this one for a long time.