Samurai Fiction

is a comedy-samurai film directed by Hiroyuki Nakano. It is almost entirely black-and-white, and follows a fairly standard plotline for a comedy and jidaigeki samurai film, but the presence of Tomoyasu Hotei's rock-and-roll soundtrack separates it from the films it was inspired by, such as the works of Akira Kurosawa. A loose spinoff was released in 2001, as Red Shadow.

Overview

While the film is nearly entirely in black-and-white, paying homage to older samurai movies, this allows for the artistic and dramatic use of color; this is most noticeable whenever a character is killed, and the screen flashes red for a moment. Color is used to dramatic effect at the beginning and end of the film as well.

Samurai Fiction was the first full-length feature film for writer-director Nakano Hiroyuki, who had been primarily a director of music videos for MTV Japan. His experience with music videos comes through in the directing of the film. This movie was also the first acting experience for Japanese rock star Tomoyasu Hotei.

Plot

The plot centers on Inukai Heishiro (Fukikoshi Mitsuru), the son of a clan officer. One of his clan's most precious heirlooms, a sword given them by the Shogun, has been stolen by the samurai Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei). Against his father's advice, Heishiro insists on retrieving the sword himself. His father sends two ninja after him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

Kazamatsuri wounds Heishiro, and kills one of his companions. The young noble...
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