Candyman Regisseur Bernard Rose inzeniert hier ein wahrlich mchtiges Brett.
Das sieht alles so derbe geil aus.
Wie und warum es ihn nach Japan verschlagen hat, wei ich nicht, aber die haben ihm richtig Geld in die Hand gedrckt. Die reinste Augenweide.
Der Score ist zum niederknien, von keinem geringeren als Philip Glass (Mishima) und die Practical Effects zhlen zum besten was ich seit Jahren gesehen hat. Das Blut und die Enthauptungen sehen echt heftig aus. Die Action ist ein Traum. Der Film ist spannend wie sonst was. Inwieweit das Marathon Rennen der Samurai den Tatsachen entspricht, wei ich nicht. Ist mir auch erstmal egal. Im Film erscheint alles vllig nachvollziebar.

The Black Ships of 'Murica approach the feudal Japan with gifts and the whole island is now in danger, as we all know those white bastards can't be trusted. To prepare the brave citizens for the future's challenges, one feudal lord decides that the people should... RUN!

Taking the race as a jumping-off point, Director Bernard Rose of Candyman fame sculps a story that has as many peaks and valleys as the route he put his actors through. The twists and turns come often and make you wonder how many were needed to achieve a coherent story. Some minor character tropes and weird tonal shifts aside, Samurai Marathon is still worthwhile.

Michael Beaulac Daniel Coupal Frdric Filiatrault Patrick Lemay-Hardy Frank Turcotte Alain Lachance Marie-Claude Lafontaine Nooreldin Reda Salama Thomas Lhomme-Sorel William Tayssier Rebecca Erbe Laurence Lavoie Sophie Fournier Marc A. Rousseau Maxime Lepage Shane Rowe Jeremy Beaulne Karine Lambert Vivianne Proulx Maria Beskorovayeva Leandro Marini Karine Ntihinyuka Yi Zhang Randy Santandrea Marc Cote David Dallaire Jean-Phillipe Lucas Julien Maisonneuve David Pomerleau Manmeet Singh Maciej Filas Sonia Marques Toby Martisius Jean-Franois Ferland Jeri Cruz Guillaume Boulay Michael R. Currie

Yes, Bernard CANDYMAN Rose directed a Japanese-language samurai film. It's about a lord making his samurai run a 36-mile foot race to toughen them up, and the way various characters try to use this opportunity to achieve their dreams. I'll admit it: the way the different stories and the emotional arcs and the action *and the sporting event* all come together at the same time straight up made the tears start pouring. Other reviews seem pretty mixed, so maybe I'm a weirdo, but I think this movie is straight up beautiful. Maybe my favorite of last year.

When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.

This all-Japanese Jidaigeki samurai film is notable for a number of reasons - it is directed by an English filmmaker, Bernard Rose (who made 1994's Immortal Beloved with Gary Oldman & 1997's Anna Karenina with Bond girl Sophie Marceau), has a classical music score by legendary composer Phillip Glass (Truman Show, Kundun, The Illusionist) & Hollywood actor Danny Huston opening & bookending the film.

Physicality is needed. Canceling out most characterization shows the westernized roots of being focused on cinematic scale, bringing it headfirst into generic trappings. I wouldn't mind seeing Nana Komatsu practicing fighting for a while, or Naoto Takenaka bonding with that kid way more, even if this meant extending the runtime. Fascinating story direction was most needed, though this is one warm-up exercise to pass the time.

After doing quite a bit of research, the basis for this film was the Japanese Marathon, which is still run annually today. It was started as a footrace put in place by the Annaka feudal lord to train the mind and bodies of his warriors. Everything else in the story seems to be heavily fictionalized for our entertainment.

Yu Haifeng Keiji Kameyama Takaya Kano Masaaki Kimura Kazuo Nakanishi Zhou Yanqin Tatsuro Hatanaka Nobuo Miyazaki Hiroyuki Yamada Koichi Watanabe Keiichi Yoshizaki Marie-Gabrielle Stewart Tatsumi Yoda Minoru Toizumi

Samurai Marathon desires to be placed among the ranks of impressive historical Japanese films that have come before it. The filmmakers were inspired by history and took a small moment of Japanese history and wrapped a samurai movie around it.

As I mentioned, the film is dense at the start, as it sets up a lot of framing and context and multiple characters before settling into the narrative. In fact the opening segment (featuring Danny Huston as US Commodore Matthew Perry) is only indirectly tied to the plot, mostly serving as a preface placing the story in historical context: a time when western influence has introduced firearms to Japan, creating a sudden technological disparity and hailing the end of the samurai age with the innovation of instantaneous, convenient, long-range death.

Samurai Marathon is a film that works so well placed right up against history that it is hard to tell the truth from the fiction, and that is how the filmmakers and audience like it. There is only so much drama one can get out of a marathon. Ever wonder why there are not a lot of running movies? No one has any time to just watch people running, no matter how beautiful the landscape is.

Samurai Marathon is an entertaining break from the streaming norm we are used to getting now. In a world where new content is about to really start slowing down, it might be about time to jump onto the subtitle bandwagon and see what else might be out there instead of scouring the dregs of Netflix.

In this charming action-comedy mashup, a feudal lord in the mid 1800s compels his samurai troops to compete in a marathon to prepare for the arrival of Americans soldiers. Unbeknownst to him, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.