Cruel Tale of Bushido - The Masters of Cinema Series

Best known for dramas such as Until We Meet Again and An Inlet of Muddy Water, the Japanese filmmaker Tadashi Imai was also the director of Revenge, a highly accomplished and brutal jidaigeki picture. These two sensibilities come together in the film that might just stand as Imai's masterpiece: Cruel Tale of Bushido. Kinnosuke Nakamura (Miyamoto Musashi) stars in multiple roles, playing seven generations of men belonging to the same family. In the modern day, salaryman Iikura is devastated by his wife's attempted suicide. To distract himself, he begins working through his recently discovered family records. As he traces his personal history across 350 years, he discovers tale after tale of men who have suffered, debased themselves and made untold sacrifices in the name of bushido, or the moral code of the samurai. Featuring Eijiro Tono (Seven Samurai) and Masayuki Mori (Rashomon) in supporting roles and boasting a foreboding score by the celebrated composer Toshiro Mayuzumi, Cruel Tale of Bushido won the Golden Bear Award at the 1963 Berlin Film Festival for its uncompromising deconstruction of the all-too-often romanticised concept of bushido. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Special Features

Booklet, Bonus Footage, Interviews: Tony Rayns (film critic), Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Tony Stella; 'Years of Honour': Video essay by Jonathan Clements (author), Trailers

Actors: Yoshi Katô, Yoshiko Mita, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ineko Arima, Eijirô Tôno, Shinjirô Ebara, Masayuki Mori, Isao Kimura, Takeshi Katô, Kyôko Kishida

Audio Languages: Japanese

Duration: 122 minutes

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitle Languages: English

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