poe426 With starvation ravaging the land, Yoshimura's wife offers to commit suicide so their family can have meat on the table... Yoshimura elects instead to leave his family of three (soon to be four) in search of gainful employment. Before you can say wandering ronin, he's teaching swordplay to the Shogun's men and dispatching them what needs dispatching. His buddy Saito, however, doesn't really like him and friction develops between the two. Saito even attempts to cut Yoshimura down, taking him by surprise, but the latter proves too adept at swordplay to be so easily dispatched. They develop a reluctant friendship (at least on the part of Saito), with Yoshimura attempting at every turn to cash in on what he knows so that he can send the money back home. In one of the film's most interesting scenes, Yoshimura examines the body of a fellow samurai who has been killed and determines that the dead man was slain by a left-handed swordsman. Saito is a lefty. Rather than risk the wrath of higher-ups, Saito pays Yoshimura to keep his mouth shut. In another scene, their divergent philosophies are made clear. "I'm only alive because no one will kill me," Saito laments. "I kill because I don't want to die," the ever-practical Yoshimura responds. At one point, someone sums up the whole notion of duty and conscience: "A real samurai apologizes by spilling his guts." There are a couple of great fx shots in WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN and the two leads are outstanding. The filmmaking is superb. The one and only complaint I have is the long, drawn out ending: it has to be the longest crying jag I've ever seen in a samurai movie.

ssto I cried for the last 45 minutes of the film.... I am a grown up man, but the tears wouldn't stopJust wanted to share this with you, before you watch this movieIf you want to watch sword fights, mighty battle scenes - there is something in this movie for you, too, but above all it is about love and duty. It is so strange how "Mibu gishi den" starts with artful swordsmanship and then at one point we get deeper into the souls of the main characters and from then on, although there will be many fierce battle scenes its all about the emotions and the battle within, the fire that drives the hearts to their destinyThe movie is shot well - we don't get to see much of a scenery, but it kind of got me closer to the characters, kept me following the story line, which is developed so well - I love stories where not all the action is focused on the main character, but now and then there are hints of the feelings and emotions of some of the lesser important characters too, almost invisible, but if you pay attention it pays back wellI guess, now that I recapitulate on the movie I can write a lot more about it, but - just watch it. It is a very good, I would say - important movie. After all the Chinese clichéd movies that followed "Tiger And Dragon", this Japanese movie is a beautiful gem, that everyone should enjoy10 out of 10peace and love

jerrythecow 7/10, ***.5/4Kanichiro Yoshimura (Kiichi Nakai) is a samurai who was forced to betray his clan in order to save his family. His life goes on in a new clan until finally, he crawls back wounded to his first clan, only to be forced to commit hara-kiri before even seeing his family including the daughter he's never seen.The script was a bit confusing. Of course, I saw it with subtitles and I have never been to Japan, but still. Other than that, I liked the script, especially Yoshimura's death monologue at the end, although it dragged a bit.Speaking of dragging, that's my #1 concern with this movie. After the final battle at the end where Yoshimura refuses to back down even against 100's of guns, it gets a bit boring. The monologue is a bit long, and it could have been cut down. Everything else after his death could also have been cut down to a few minutes, instead of the 10 or 20 minutes that it was.The directing was incredible! Yojiro Takita takes the simplest shots and uses them to create a beautiful story! (There was one problem that I noticed: They didn't leave footprints in the snow.) I loved how he framed his shots and used only a few shots to create a scene.The acting was pretty good, although some of it was weak. Nothing that good or that bad. Just average.All in all, a movie you must see!

jory-nori-1 This picture was nice and refreshing. I'm always searching for a samurai movie with a budget, that wasn't shot with a digital camera (like all of the t.v. dramas) and that has nice swordplay. I found one. Like most Japanese movies, an American viewer tends to think they must be watching the director's cut but it's definitely worth the watch. I'm not sure who (or even if) I'm supposed to be rooting for. The Shinsengumi is mostly romanticized in Japan but this picture shows them doing what they did. House raids, executions, etc. all in the name of the shogun. If you enjoyed the type of movie that The Last Samurai aspired (and in some instances was successful) to be, then I recommend this movie to you.