47 Ronin (December 25th, 2013)

[6souls]

Director: Carl Erik Rinsch
Writers: Chris Morgan & Hossein Amini
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1335975/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Ronin_%282012_film%29
http://47ronin.jp/

Synopsis;

Keanu Reeves leads the cast as Kai, an outcast who joins Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), the leader of the 47 Ronin. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honor to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.

Cast:

Keanu Reeves - Kai
Hiroyuki Sanada - Kuranosuke Ôishi
Kô Shibasaki - Mika
Tadanobu Asano - Lord Kira
Rinko Kikuchi - Mizuki
Jin Akanishi - Chikara Ôishi
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - Shogun
Yorick van Wageningen - Kapitan
Togo Igawa - Tengu Lord
Haruka Abe - Mika's Handmaiden
Tanroh Ishida - Shogun's Adjutant
Junichi Kajioka - Guard
Brian Hirono - Okuda
Masashi Fujimoto - Lead Soldier
Takato Yonemoto - Basho

Trailers:


Clips:

Spoiler: show

Notes:
- Filming started in Budapest in March 2011; it moved to Shepperton Studios in London and will conclude in Japan.
- Budget is $170 million

[AvidLoki]

Already rebooting Last Samurai?

[Tajin]

I know kung-fu

[Hirronimus]

Token white guy?

[Brill Weave]

Already rebooting Last Samurai?

Not really. The movie is based on the real story of the 47 Ronin. Long story short, official insults a daimyo, daimyo draws his dagger in the emperor's palace and fails to kill official. Daimyo sentenced to death for drawing a blade and attacking an official. Daimyo's samurai retainers failed to honor their daimyo by immediately attempting to kill the official. They plan and wait for two years before attacking the official's manor and kill him. All but 1 samurai are sentenced to death. The end.

[Elvis]

Damn, Samurai had the temperament of rappers.

[Silenka]

Japanese history geek lecture:

The 47 Ronin is derived from the 1748 puppet play Chuushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers). It's a very popular, very old story in Japan and has been made into tons of Noh/Kabuki plays, dramas and movies. Apparently, Teddy Roosevelt was very taken with the story when read it and admired the ideals of the ronin who would fight for their dead master at the cost of their own lives. Its performance was outlawed by America a few years during the post WWII occupation due to its content.

Interestingly, the play was based on real events that took place in 1703. To paraphrase my book: a green country baron, Asano Naganori, was supposed to receive help on matters of decorum from one Lord Kira Yoshinaka, as Naganori was expecting an imperial envoy. Since Naganori didn't give Yoshinaka the proper bribe, Yoshinaka taunted Naganori into a rage. Naganori got pissed and pulled his dagger on Yoshinaka. Even though Yoshinaka took little damage, this was such a breach of proper conduct that the shogun himself ordered Naganori to commit seppuku. Later, 46 of Naganori's retainers killed Yoshinaka and offered his head to their master's grave. This was generally seen by the public as an honorable and righteous end to the debacle, since the ronin avenged their master.

It was definitely a series of events that inspired the public and, it seems, many playwrights, as several different versions of the story came out as Kabuki plays later, some as little as a year or two with changed names, characters and events - but since the story was still so controversial, the government banned performances of it for a while. The oldest surviving version was Chikamatsu's 1706 Goban Taiheiki. The lasting version, and the one I think most of the 47 ronin stories are based off of, is the puppet play, Chuushingura, which was compiled by many artists.

Pulling directly from the preface of the book version I have here, "Two centuries later the play was modified even more drastically to meet the demands of film and television, and this process will no doubt continue for years to come."

In the form of Keanu Reeves.

Fuck.

[aru]

Damn, Samurai had the temperament of rappers.

If you haven't read it, check out Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a retired samurai turned monk. It's full of very short stories and maxims that reveal just how completely insane and fanatic they were in comparison to today's western culture.

[Correction]

Already rebooting Last Samurai?

More like



Keep on whitewashing, hollywood, it sure got you far the last time you did it:

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4snekGcCK1qbn7ob.png

[Cichy]

More like



Keep on whitewashing, hollywood, it sure got you far the last time you did it:

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4snekGcCK1qbn7ob.png

So a brown guy was the enemy, world still makes sense!

[Brill Weave]

This movie could go either way. Reeves is a huge fan of the original story from what I have read. So my guess is he will be along as the guy reciting the tale etc. The casting list is actually fairly decent once you move past Reeves. That's the big stumbling block in this movie though. What role Reeves will play. Myself being a fan of the tale I will be keeping an eye on this one.

[Hirronimus]

Obviously the role of a guy to die in the first 15 minutes of the movie.

[Sho]

Think I'll stick to all of my 70s/80s Shaw Brothers movies. Any Asian martial arts culture is completely lost on Hollywood whitewashing.

[6souls]

I watched the extended cut of Jet Li's "Fearless" on netflix last night. That was pretty good for Asian culture, even thought it only focused on 1900-1910 China.

[Silenka]

At least Shogun made more sense for a white guy to be there...

[Guyverarmor]

Wonder if he will know Kung Fu in the movie...

[Brill Weave]

An update for those who are interested. The movie has been pushed back to 2013. The original director has been removed due to issues with the studio and the budget spinning out of control. Not looking good.

[Salodin]

Booourns

[Omniyoji]

On related note, I think the film will be great and will only further educate people on other cultures like Last Samurai did (lol learning history through movies).

[BWYuko]

Ambition of the scriptwriter pushing the budget way out of proportion killed Reeves' Cowboy Bebop project too. Hope this isn't a trend.