Harakiri and Yojimbo
Double bill! Two of the most popular and influential Japanese films ever made, Masahiro Kobayashi’s Harakiri (1962) and Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961).
Harakiri
Directed by Masahiro Kobayashi
Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Harakiri is a fierce evocation of individual agency in the face of a corrupt and hypocritical system. Following the collapse of his clan, an unemployed samurai arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on the property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for a new position, try to force his hand and get him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his beliefs and his personal brand of honor.
Seppuku, Japan 1962, 133 min. Written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Yasuhiko Takiguchi. Photographed by Yoshio Miyajima. With Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita. Janus Films.
Yojimbo
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage.
Japan 1961, 110 min. Written by Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima. Photographed by Kazuo Miyagawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai,Takashi Shimura. Janus Films.
Double feature $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens December 26 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
Harakiri
Directed by Masahiro Kobayashi
“Still undoubtedly one of the greatest of all Japanese films.”
—Michael Brooke, Sight&Sound
—Michael Brooke, Sight&Sound
Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Harakiri is a fierce evocation of individual agency in the face of a corrupt and hypocritical system. Following the collapse of his clan, an unemployed samurai arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on the property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for a new position, try to force his hand and get him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his beliefs and his personal brand of honor.
Seppuku, Japan 1962, 133 min. Written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Yasuhiko Takiguchi. Photographed by Yoshio Miyajima. With Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita. Janus Films.
Yojimbo
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage.
Japan 1961, 110 min. Written by Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima. Photographed by Kazuo Miyagawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai,Takashi Shimura. Janus Films.
Double feature $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens December 26 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
Wednesday, January 18. Harakiri: 1:30, 6:30. Yojimbo: 4:15, 9:15.
SF Film Society Cinema
1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan)
SF Film Society Cinema
1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan)