Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) *Special guest review by frequent Commenter "None More Black"*

After digesting this movie for a few days I can say that Hara-Kiri is Japanese director Takeshi Miike best work to date.

            This may be a controversial statement since Miike has created arguably classic films, including Happiness of the Katakuri’s, 13 Assassins, Visitor Q and others.   Why then is this film such a step up then in my book?  Restraint, pure and simple.  Hara – Kiri is a remake of a 60’s Japanese classic that I have never seen which may have tinged my review.  Regardless even in the decision to remake this movie, Miike has made a bold move away from his earlier frantic style.

            Hara-Kiri is a slow and beautifully languid movie that carefully unfurls the sad tale of family destroyed by class, honor, and the caste system in feudal Japan.  Nothing in this film feels rushed or overdone and that is why it hits home so deeply. 

            Miike’s work is so synonymous with extremity (I have often found his movies filed under the category Japanese: Extreme) that I spent the majority of the movie sitting with my senses on high alert for the invariable projectile spew of blood, sperm, or vomit to come crashing into the frame.  It never came.  Is the film violent?  Yes, but the violence here does not explode onto the screen but rather slowly and painfully pushes along the plot inexorably forward like a bamboo sword to the stomach.  Miike creates amazing tension throughout as the viewer fully aware of the tragedy to come bonds ever more deeply with each character as they lurch toward their demise.  Miike here I feel is playing with the audiences expectation of him as a director by dodging our expectations he leaves us to focus on the tale in front of us.

            The Hara Kiri scenes in particular left a disturbing aftertaste, aided immensely by some exquisite Foley work as each thrust squishes, slowly home.  This might be due to my new sound system since this was the first movie I watched using it, but I digress.

            Oddly this exercise in restraint was filmed in 3-D.  I did not watch it in that format so I cannot comment on whether that added to the film.

            Finally I this movie succeeds because Miike has a clear vision and sticks to it.  Miike aims to expose the hypocrisy of the Japanese feudal caste system and he does.  He drives the point home with a classic final line that I dare not ruin here.  This focus may come across to some as overbearing or overdone but I found it refreshing.  Often I have felt in watching other Miike films that there was a message hidden in there somewhere, a message that often became so obfuscated by the insanity unfolding onscreen that I was never able to grasp it clearly.

            Feel free to challenge my statement of this films place in the Miike catalogue, that is half the beauty of the internet after all, but understand regardless that in Hara – Kiri Miike has created an amazing and powerful film. 

9 out of 10 on the Fujita Scale