Samurai Trilogy Box Set (The Criterion Collection)
by Hiroshi Inagaki
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kaoru Yachigusa, Koji Tsuruta, Mariko Okada, Michiyo Kogure, Toshirô MifuneDirector: Hiroshi Inagaki
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Jun Yasumoto
Cinematographer: Kazuo Yamada
Writer: Hiroshi Inagaki
Producer: Kazuo Takimura
Writer: Eiji Yoshikawa
Writer: Hideji Hôjô
Writer: Tokuhei Wakao
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 300 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-05-18
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Samurai Trilogy Box Set (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Musashi: The Pure Warrior
Summary: 5 Stars
Samurai I: Miyamoto Musashi:
Based on Yoshikawa Eiji's massive novel _Musashi_, _Samurai I_ is the first in a trio of films depicting part fact part fiction life of Miyamoto Musashi, author of _The Book of Five Rings_ and a master of ambidextrous swordsmanship.
The film begins with a peaceful scene of a small village called Miyamoto, however, times of change and danger are brooding in the distance. The forces of Toyotomi Hideyori, son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, march through the town and a young orphan named Takezo, Mifune Toshiro, the future Musashi is determined to go off to war with then in order to earn himself fame. Takezo encourgaes his friend Matahachi to accompany him, but unlike the orphan Takezo, Matahachi has not only an old mother to support but also a lovely young fiance named Otsu. Takezo's words, however, convince Matahachi to go off and seek fame and fortune with his friend.
However, instead of finding fame and fortune, the only thing that Takezo and Matahachi find themselves doing is digging trencs at the battle of Sekigahara, a major battle in 1600 in which the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu trampled those of Toyotomi. However, when his side is on the verge of being completely destroyed, instead of fleeing, Takezo, along with a reluctnat Matahachi, rush into the battle.
Somehow the duo managaes to survive and they find themselves at the home of Oko and Akemi, a mother and daughter who survive my stealing the possesions of dead samurai. The friends remain there for a few months waiting for the wound Matahachi suffered at Sekigahara to heal. the daughter tries to seduce Takezo, but the young warrior rushes away. Also, after Musashi single handedly fights back a band of vagabonds, the mother tries to give herself to him, but once again Takezo balks and runs. Eventually Matahachi splits from Takezo and accompanies Oko and Akemi to Kyoto.
Musashi on the other hand is angered at his friend for abandoning him, but he feels that it is his duty to return to Miyamoto to report that Matahachi is stil alive. He does manage to do this, but at the cost of killing a few soldiers of the local official. What follows is a series of events, with the help of Otsu and a wonderful monk named Takuan, that help form an uncut gem into a beautiful jewel.
Samurai II: Death at Ichijoji Temple:
_Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple_ starts off exactly where _Samurai I: Miyamoto Musashi_ leaves off. Musashi, the former Takezo, wanders Japan in search of ways to improve his swordsmanship by challenging other skilled samurai to duels. At the beginning of the film, Musashi is fighting a warrior armed with a sickle and chain and, although Musashi is victorious, an old Buddhist monk says that Musashi failed as a Samurai because he lacks compassion for his enemy and that Musashi was too strong.
Musashi is dumbfounded by these words, but he continues on to Kyoto where he wants to challenge Yoshioka Seijuro to a duel. Seijuro, although the head of a school of swordsmanship, is actually more interested in receiving the attentions of Akemi,the same girl who tried to seduce Takezo in the first movie, however, when he learns that Musashi wants to fight him, he actually wants to do battle, but his underlings, knowing that there is no way for Seijuro to win in a fight against Musashi, try to keep him from fighting the travelling warrior.
Musashi, although his mind is completely on the future battle, is taken back when he runs into his old love Otsu, who has been searching for him for over a year. Although Musashi states that he loves his sword more that Otsu, she is determined to remain by his side. A battle of love and a battle of steel both wage war inside of Musashi.
This is a good movie, although I don't think that it as good as the first one, which has some pretty cool fight scenes, especially the part when Musashi takes on eighty members of the Yoshioka school. However, the key part is the appearanve of Sasaki Kojiro, Musashi strongest enemy.
Samurai III: Dual at Ganryu Island:
In this final volume of Inagaki Hiroshi's _Samurai_ series the viewer is once again treated to the adventures of one of Japan's most famous masterless samurai: Miyamoto Musashi. Fantastically played by Mifune Toshiro, Musashi comes off as an individual who, although extraordinarily powerful and skillful, also is not without compassion. As can be seen when he buries the bodies of four men slain by Sasaki Kojiro.
In the volume, Musashi's fame has spread considerably across Japan and numerous individuals want to hire Musashi as either a teacher or a bodyguard, however, Unlike Takezo, Musashi's old name, Musashi does not seek or desire fame and fortune. What he desires is making himself the perfect samurai. Which he tries to do not only through cultivating his martial skill, but also through certain arts such as carving buddhist statues and painting, as can be seen in the second movie.
However, Musashi still has one tie to his old world and that is Otsu, the girl his best friends Matahachi was engaged to at the beginning of the story. Musashi does his best to avoid Otsu, but the persistant woman always seems to be able to locate him in the end. In this film, Musashi actually even reciprocates Otsu's love. However, of course, the main confrontation in this movie is the fated duel between Kojiro and Musashi. It is very well done.
This movie caps off the series well. Musashi has come full circle from being a hot headed young warrior with only brute strength to a polished samurai who has not only mastered the art of the sword, but other skills as well. However, what I find even more moving is the respect and compassion Musashi feels for even his enemies. A good series.
Summary of Samurai Trilogy Box Set (The Criterion Collection)
SAMURAI TRILOGY - DVD MovieSamurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Toshirô Mifune defines the quintessential samurai in Hiroshi Inagaki's 1954 Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, the first feature in a trilogy based on the epic novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. As in Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai, which appeared the same year, Mifune plays a brash and ambitious peasant who desires fame and power as a swordsman. His dreams of glory in war sour when his army is routed and he becomes hunted by the authorities, but the "tough love" attentions of a kindly but severe monk help him develop from a hot-tempered outlaw to a thoughtful swordsman. Inagaki's somber color epic is very different from the energetic action of Kurosawa's films. The sword fights and battles are practically theatrical in their presentation, staged in long takes that emphasize form and movement over flash and flamboyance. Mifune brings a sad, almost tragic quality to the samurai warrior Musashi Miyamoto, whose dedication proscribes him to a lonely life on the road. Though the film stands well on its own, its stature takes on greater significance as the first act of Inagaki's stately, contemplative epic of the professional and spiritual development of Musashi.
Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
Picking up where Samurai I left off, Toshirô Mifune's samurai in training Musashi Miyamoto is a wandering swordsman who hones his skills in a succession of duels. When he defeats a succession of students from a local school of martial arts, he becomes marked for death by the school elders and is attacked in a series of cowardly ambushes. Romantic threads from the first film become further complicated when the virginal Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa) and the sad courtesan Akemi (Mariko Okada) meet and discover their rivalry and Musashi earns himself an archenemy, an ambitious young swordsman named Sasaki Kojiro (Koji Tsuruta) who vows to defeat Musashi to make his name as the finest fencer in all of Japan. Inagaki ably manages the rather complicated plot with unexpected ease (subtitles are employed to help English viewers make a few narrative jumps) while he charts Musashi's education in compassion and humility and his internal struggle with his conflicted love for Otsu. The direction is still as distant and unostentatious as in the first film, while the color and settings become richer and more pronounced: studio-bound locations take on the quality and delicacy of paintings. The dramatic centerpiece of the trilogy, an epic pre-dawn battle where 40 swordsmen ambush Musashi, uses darkness and landscape to great dramatic effect as figures seep in and out of the picture
Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
Toshirô Mifune is confidence supreme and humility incarnate as the mature samurai master Musashi Miyamoto in the final film of Inagaki's sprawling trilogy. Now a legendary swordsman whose latest quest is to save an isolated village from rampaging brigands (shades of Seven Samurai), he remains haunted by the memory of Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa). Meanwhile the ruthless and increasingly jealous Kojiro Sasaki (Koji Tsuruta) plots his battle royal with Musashi to prove who is the finest fencer in Japan. Inagaki weaves the web of subplots into a series of grand confrontations, among them the most exciting battles of the trilogy: Musashi's skirmish with the army of cutthroats while the village erupts in a fiery inferno around him, and the sunset duel between Musashi and Kojiro on an isolated beach, the two warriors taking on mythic dimensions silhouetted against the sun setting over the surf. Inagaki's delicate use of color throughout the series becomes most pronounced in this final sequence, where the glow of orange and red adds dramatic flourish to the twilight battle. Inagaki's reserved, restrained style and Mifune's melancholy performance--his granite face and stocky stance the very essence of somber wisdom and sad assurance--bring a gravity and seriousness to the drama that ultimately illuminates the personal cost of Musashi's supreme skill as his story ends on an elegiac but hopeful note. --Sean Axmaker
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