Davis's Letterboxd Season Challenge
Week 3: September 23rd-28th
Non-Kurosawa Samurai Week

A very unexpected movie, but nonetheless a fulfilling one. It's a very captivating reflection on class and the type of violence that tends to play as spectacle in these kinds of movies. The few fights there are in this film serve mostly as important character moments (while still being impressively choreographed for what they try to be), and instead, the film revels in quieter dialogue scenes. The major conflicts in the film arise from the main character's low status and his surprising comfort in that status, as well as the pressure his clan puts on him to aspire for something greater. He lives a hard life, but one could imagine that he could manage the life he leads adequately enough. Regardless, his interactions with upper-class people push him to be modest, to put himself down, to try and keep himself in his place. Even in the end, when it seems like he may achieve something more, his life is cut short, signifying that this type of success often is not worth it by itself. Just like the movie, the main character finds more in the smaller things, and I really appreciate that about this movie. If you're looking for intense, crazy combat, then this is not your movie, but it's a very different type of samurai movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.