Hana yori mo naho
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Profile
- Movie: Hana yori mo naho
- Romaji: Hana yori mo naho
- Japanese: 花よりもなほ
- Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
- Writer: Hirokazu Koreeda
- Producer: Nozomu Enoki, Julie K. Fujishima, Satoshi Kono, Shiho Sato
- Cinematographer Yutaka Yamazaki
- Release Date: May 3, 2007
- Production Company: Shochiku, Hana Film Partners
- Distributor: Shochiku
- Runtime: 127 min.
- Language: Japanese
- Country: Japan
Plot
A samurai named Soza (Junichi Okada) has lived in the modest Edo shanty town for the past 3 years in search of his father’s killer. His father was killed in a petty dispute over the game “Go” and his last words to Soza were to revenge his death. Soza while honoring his father’s wishes has also been partaking in activities that are of interest to him, but unusual for a Samurai. This would include running a private school for the neighborhood kids and keeping birds as pets. He’s also become quietly attached to a widow named Osae (Rie Miyazawa) and her 8 year old son Shinbo. It’s also revealed through humorous scenes in the film that Soza is a terrible swordsman and actually scared of battle. When he finally locates his father’s killer Soza he now has to weight the teachings of his Samurai background against his own moral convictions.
Running parallel with Soza’s story are the various stories of the shanty town residents. The most notable story involves the fabled 47 Ronins. The 47 Ronins were a group of samurai that were leaderless after their master was forced to commit suicide because of an assault on a court official. The ronins then blended back into society, while secretly conspiring to exact revenge for their dishonored master. They patiently wait for over a year to launch their attack – all the while knowing they would be sentenced to death for their actions.
Cast
- Junichi Okada - Aoki Souzaemon aka 'Soza'
- Rie Miyazawa - Osae, Widow
- Arata Furuta - Sadashiro
- Jun Kunimura - Isekan
- Katsuo Nakamura - Shigehachi
- Tadanobu Asano - Jubei Kanazawa
- Yoshio Harada - Junai Onodera
- Teruyuki Kagawa - Jirozaemon Hirano
- Tomoko Tabata - Onobu
- Yui Natsukawa - Oryo
- Renji Ishibashi - Shozaburo Aoki
- Ryuhei Ueshima - Otokichi
- Yuichi Kimura - Magosaburo
- Seiji Chihara - Tomekichi
- Ryo Kase - Sodekichi
- Moeko Ezawa - Okatsu
- Tetsushi Tanaka
- Ryo Katsuji
- Shohei Tanaka
- Yuji Nakamura
- Manami Azechi
- Nanami Nabemoto
- Ouga Tanaka - Kichibo
Film Festivals
- 2012 (18th) Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema - February 14-21, 2012 - Hommage à Kore Eda Hirokazu
Awards
- "Yujiro Ishihara New Artist Award" (Junichi Okada) - 2006 (19th) Nikkan Sports Film Awards - December 28, 2006
Ki Says:
Feb 06 2011 4:55 am
Hana Yori Mo Naho” is famed director Hirokazu Koreeda’s (After Life/Nobody Knows) first period piece set within Edo era Tokyo. The film challenges the romanticized view of the Samurai by capturing the pathos of a poor community in the slums of Edo - where numerous Samurai live – in a surprisingly humorous and light hearted manner. The film also features an impressive ensemble cast and various subplots that run throughout the film.
ith the gentle nature of “Hana yori mo naho”, even the tale of the 47 Ronins was told in a light hearted manner. Unusual for Samurai films, Hirokazu Koreeda purposely left out any violent battle scenes.
Visually the film excelled at showing the flimsiness of the Edo shanty town while still bringing to light the colorful nature of their community. The soundtrack employed an odd – but appealing – Scottish/Irish like musical score. The large ensemble cast were tops, most notable of which would be Junichi Okada, Rie Miyazawa, Ryo Kase and Teruyuki Kagawa. Tadanobu Asano also appears briefly in the film as Kanazawa. As with most of Tadanobu Asano’s characters, Kanazawa is a muted character that speaks very little. What’s the chances Tadandobu Asano would play a hyperactive loud mouth one of these days?
While the gentle, almost TV drama like, flow of “Hanan Yori Mo Naho” was a pleasure to watch, the overall impact of the movie was diluted by a few questionable decisions on the part of Hirokazu Koreeda. The film lost some of its luster by the second half of the film, as the overabundance of characters and subplots started to weight down the film. Less characters and a few minutes shaved off the runtime would have done wonders in this department. An even more compelling issue would have been with the manner in which Koreeda unveiled his pacifists message. Soza was a samurai that easily got roughed up and even ran away (funny scene) from confrontation. Consequently, his final act, in regards to avenging his fathers death, appeared to be acted out not by any moral convictions but rather out of pure necessity. In most films this wouldn’t be an issue, but when critiquing a long held notion of society past, Soza’s actions rang hollow within the realm of Koreada’s message. Ultimately, “Hanan Yori Mo Naho” is an engaging period piece that doesn’t rank among Koreeda’s all time best.