The Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei) Reviews
February 17, 2005
Deeply humane... a bittersweet, eloquent tribute to a man who is bent but not crushed beneath the weight of his various competing duties.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
September 24, 2004
The story sometimes slips into soapy territory, but when you think the schmaltz is going to ruin it, Yamada gives it just enough of a twist to make you realize this is not your regular romantic film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
September 17, 2004
Beautifully captures the end of an age.
Original Score: 4/5
August 8, 2004
A determined, resolutely paced, and atypical samurai movie.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
July 23, 2004
A small, respectful corrective.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
July 2, 2004
An affecting look at the vulnerable side of a warrior
July 1, 2004
As Iguchi, Mr. Sanada epitomizes the kind of man who can still dream and be true to himself amid the daily grind and turmoil. That's a welcome role model in any age.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
June 17, 2004
About the last days of an era, whittled to a poetic vision of a worthy, solitary man.
Original Score: A-
June 4, 2004
This is an old man's movie in all the good ways: gentle, humanistic, rich with observation, quietly aware of all that can't be solved by the sword.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
June 4, 2004
Viewers who stick around will be rewarded with a complex, moving domestic drama -- and a couple of duels.
June 4, 2004
This is an absolutely brilliant film but in a quiet way.
May 27, 2004
[Yamada] does an exquisite job of balancing emotions, even throwing in a little levity without detracting from the impact of the narrative.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
May 21, 2004
Well worth watching.
Original Score: 3/4
May 21, 2004
The Twilight Samurai is one action movie older movie audiences should love as much as younger ones.
Original Score: 3.5/4
May 21, 2004
The closing third of the film is magnificent in the way it gathers all we have learned about Seibei, and uses it to bring depth to what could have been a routine action sequence, but is much more.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
May 21, 2004
For audiences raised on Akira Kurosawa movies, Twilight Samurai feels like something of a revelation, a movie in which the hero's struggles hardly seem epic.
Original Score: B
May 20, 2004
Rich in the kind of economic and social detail that explains how most samurai managed to live out their lives with only infrequent bursts of martial glory.
May 17, 2004
... works on all levels.
May 14, 2004
Presents its own, somewhat revisionist samurai legend as a thoughtful and moving domestic drama.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
May 14, 2004
Tender, melancholy, suspenseful and, finally, uplifting.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5