Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Chris Lavery and Phil Bagnall, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This week, Masaki Kobayashi’s Seppuku.
It is a peaceful time in Japan. The samurai class have largely been rendered obsolete, with many veterans struggling to feed themselves or their families. A former samurai arrives at the estate of the powerful Iyi Clan, requesting to commit ritual suicide before them. He is the second such wanderer in so many days. However, nobody can expect what will follow.
At time of recording, it was ranked 32nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 10th April 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Harakiri at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Phil on Twitter.
- Read Phil’s reviews at Scannain.
- Follow Chris on Twitter.
- Adam Acar at Mai Ko discusses the differences between seppuku and harakiri, April 2021.
- Clyde Mandelin at Legends of Localisation explores how to distinguish between seppuku and harakiri, October 2013.
- Joan Mellen at Criterion offers an introduction to Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi for Criterion, October 2011.
- Devdutt Trivedi at Scroll looks at Masaki Kobayashi as a distinctive voice in postwar Japanese cinema, June 2016.
- Roger Ebert places Harakiri within the larger context of Masaki Kobayashi’s body of work for RogerEbert.com, February 2012.
- Karthick Ram Manoharan discusses the importance of Masaki Kobayashi’s Human Condition trilogy in postwar Japanese cinema at Senses of Cinema, January 2021.
- Philip Kemp at Criterion takes a look at the weight and power of Kobayashi’s Human Condition trilogy, September 2009.
- Jean-Baptiste de Vaulx compares The Human Condition and Full Metal Jacket on Cinescope, May 2016.
- Wael Kairy argues for Harakiri as “the greatest anti-samurai film ever made” at RogerEbert.com, February 2021.
- Darren Mooney at the m0vie blog argues for Sanjuro as a deconstruction of the archetypal samurai myth, July 2020.
- Ben Sachs at MUBI discusses Takashi Miike’s remake of Hara-Kiri, September 2020.
- Maggie Lee at The Hollywood Reporter reviews Takashi Miike’s remake of Hara-Kiri, May 2011.
- Mark Jenkins at NPR reviews Takashi Miike’s remake of Hara-Kiri, July 2012.
- Kevin Jagernauth at IndieWire discusses Takashi Miike’s Hara-Kiri as the first 3D film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, May 2011.
- Fahima Haque at The Washington Post reports on Spike Lee’s tweeting of the wrong address for George Zimmerman, March 2012.
- Chuck Stephens at Criterion reflects on the career of actor Tatsuya Nakadai, December 2009.
- Davis Mermelstein at The Wall Street Journal reports on Tatsuya Nakadai’s long and distinguished career, July 2008.
- James Kirkup offers an obituary for Masaki Kobayashi for The Independent, October 1996.
- Evan Andrews at History.com offers an overview of seppuku, January 2016.
- Linda Sieg at Reuters discusses the reception of Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima in Japan, January 2007.
- Slate offers a brief history of harakiri, March 1999.
- Thomas Graham at BBC reflects on the life and death of author Yukio Mishima, November 2020.
- Nathan J. Robinson at NBC News reports on why millennials are increasingly turning towards socialism, January 2020.
- Max Ehrenfreund at The Washington Post reports on the rejection of capitalism by young millennials, April 2016.
- Derek Thompson at The Atlantic discusses the increasing millennial disillusionment with capitalism, January 2020.
- Archbishop Diarmuid Martin talks to The Irish Times about how young Irish people feel increasingly alienated from the Catholic Church, July 2018.
- Terri Pous at Time reports on the legend that King George III wrote in his diary that “nothing of importance happened today” on 4 July 1776, July 2012.
- Andrew Gilstrap at PopMatters writes on Harakiri as a challenge to Japan’s romantic view of its own history, November 2011.
- Donald Richie at Criterion discusses Masaki Kobayashi’s fascination with the distortion of history in both Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion, October 2005.
- Peter Grilli interviews Masaki Kobayashi, 1993.
- Stephen Prince discusses the life and career of Shinobu Hashimoto for Criterion, June 2018.
- “It’s Just a Ride”, Bill Hicks, 1992.
- Katie McKinney, Scott D. Sagan and Allen S. Weiner discuss the myths around the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at Lawfare, August 2020.
- Ii Naosuke’ s Attempt to Save the Tokugawa Shogunate by Edwin B. Lee from Studies on Asia, 1967.
- Kimmy Yam at NBC News discusses the complicated feelings around the nuclear bomb in Japanese postwar cinema, August 2020.
- Jake Adelstein at The Los Angeles Times reports on the complicated attitude that Japan would have to an American apology for the nuclear bomb, April 2016.
- Jeff Kingston at Japan Times discusses the complicated relationship between Japan and war guilt, June 2013.
- Anthony Kuhn at NPR reports on Japan’s efforts to move away from its war guilt, August 2015.
- Ian Buruma at The New York Times discusses the differences between how Germany and Japan approach war guilt, December 1998.
- Nate Fox and Jason Connell talk to Criterion about the influence of samurai films like Harakiri on Ghost of Tsushima, September 2020.
- Richard I. Suchenski at The New York Review discusses the cinema of Masaki Kobayashi as “history from a high angle”, June 2018.
- Alan Westby at the Los Angeles Public Library on the influence of composer Tôru Takemitsu on postwar Japanese cinema, May 2017.
- Geoffrey O’Brien discusses Kwaidan at Criterion, October 2015.
- Follow The 250 on Twitter.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: bushido, edo period, hiroshima, history, Honour, japan, masaki kobayashi, nuclear war, podcast, samurai, Takashi Miike, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tôru Takemitsu, The 250, war guilt |
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