Kill!
Encyclopedia
is a 1968 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto
, written by Akira Murao, Kihachi Okamoto
, and Shugoro Yamamoto and starring Tatsuya Nakadai
.
(gang) member. He meets Hanjiro Tabata (Etsushi Takahashi) a farmer who wants to become a samurai to escape his powerless existence. Genta and Tabata wind up on opposite sides of clan intrigue when seven members of a local clan assassinate their chancellor. Although the seven, led by Tetsutaro Oikawa (Naoko Kubo) rebelled with the support of their superior, Ayuzama (Shigeru Kôyama), he turns on them and sends members of the clan to kill them as outlaws.
The film is a comically exaggerated exploration of what it is to be a samurai. The characters in the movie either give up samurai status or fight to attain it, and samurai are seen behaving both honorably and very badly. The film has a parodic tone, with numerous references to earlier samurai films.http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=313&eid=440§ion=essay
Kihachi Okamoto
was a Japanese film director who has worked in several different genres, including jidaigeki.-Career:Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted in 1943 and entered World War II during its most difficult hours, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work,...
, written by Akira Murao, Kihachi Okamoto
Kihachi Okamoto
was a Japanese film director who has worked in several different genres, including jidaigeki.-Career:Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted in 1943 and entered World War II during its most difficult hours, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work,...
, and Shugoro Yamamoto and starring Tatsuya Nakadai
Tatsuya Nakadai
is a Japanese leading film actor.He became a star after he was discovered working as a Tokyo shop clerk by filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi during the early 1950s...
.
Cast
- Tatsuya NakadaiTatsuya Nakadaiis a Japanese leading film actor.He became a star after he was discovered working as a Tokyo shop clerk by filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi during the early 1950s...
.... Genta (Hyodo Yagenta) - Etsushi Takahashi .... Hanji (Hanjiro Tabata)
- Naoko Kubo .... Tetsutaro Oikawa
- Shigeru Kôyama .... Ayuzama
- Akira KuboAkira KuboAkira Kubo is a Japanese actor. He has appeared in 75 films since 1952. He starred in the film Arashi, which was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Arashi...
.... Monnosuke Takei - Seishiro Kuno .... Daijiro Masataka
- Tadao Nakamaru .... Shoda Magobei
- Eijirô TonoEijirô Tonowas a Japanese actor who took supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Yojimbo , as well as Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story and An Autumn Afternoon ....
.... Moriuchi Hiyogo - Isao Hashimoto .... Konosuke Fujii
- Yoshio TsuchiyaYoshio Tsuchiyais a Japanese actor who has appeared in such films as Toshio Matsumoto's surreal masterpiece "Bara No Soretsu" and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Red Beard, and Kihachi Okamoto's Kill!. He has a long-standing interest in UFOs and had written several books on the subject...
.... Matsuo Shiroku
Synopsis
Tatsuya Nakadai stars as Genta, a former samurai who became disillusioned with the samurai lifestyle and left it behind to become a wandering yakuzaYakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
(gang) member. He meets Hanjiro Tabata (Etsushi Takahashi) a farmer who wants to become a samurai to escape his powerless existence. Genta and Tabata wind up on opposite sides of clan intrigue when seven members of a local clan assassinate their chancellor. Although the seven, led by Tetsutaro Oikawa (Naoko Kubo) rebelled with the support of their superior, Ayuzama (Shigeru Kôyama), he turns on them and sends members of the clan to kill them as outlaws.
The film is a comically exaggerated exploration of what it is to be a samurai. The characters in the movie either give up samurai status or fight to attain it, and samurai are seen behaving both honorably and very badly. The film has a parodic tone, with numerous references to earlier samurai films.http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=313&eid=440§ion=essay
Trivia
- Kill! is based on Shugoro Yamamoto's novel Peaceful Days, the same source as for Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawawas a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's SanjuroSanjurois a 1962 black-and-white Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune. It is a sequel to Kurosawa's previous film Yojimbo, with Mifune reprising his role as a wandering ronin...
. - The film shares some common scenes (for example, the beating scene) with Sergio LeoneSergio LeoneSergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's A Fistful of DollarsA Fistful of DollarsA Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
, which was in turn inspired by Kurosawa's Yojimbo.