The ‘Shōgun’ Series Is Like a Beautiful Car with No Engine
James Clavell’s Shōgun is about profound transformation through understanding, but FX’s Shōgun is just a spectacle of surfaces with no meaningful drive.
samurai
‘The Betrayal’ Returns in All Its Nihilistic Glory
Like its filmmaker Tokuzô Tanaka, The Betrayal has been largely sidelined by other jidaigeki (historical) and chanbara (samurai) films in Japan’s traditional canon, but this revelatory new release rewrites the record.
Criterion’s ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ Includes the Original Six Films in the Series
This series of films about a masterless samurai bent on revenge while protectively raising his son features moments of pastoral silent beauty juxtaposed with quick stylized violence.