The Twilight Samurai

reviewed Sun, 20 Jun 2004

So I tried out for Jeopardy! again (I tried out for the Teen Tournament and the College Tournament; both times, I passed the written test but evidently failed the "personality" test).  This time, at least, I got a Jeopardy! pen out of it, even if it's a crappy pen that barely writes.  Once again, I passed the written test, and I think I did fairly well in the mock game I played.  A big part of it, beside the knowledge, is being "high energy," which, as most of you know, is not a state that comes easily to me.  The contestant search coordinators kept reminding us that Jeopardy! is a game show -- and whatever constitutes a game-show personality, I'm pretty much the opposite of that.  So I ingested massive amounts of sugar and caffeine just before the test, and I think I produced a credible simulation of energy.  We had to write down five interesting things about ourselves so that Alex Trebek has something to talk to us about in the chit-chat portion of the show, and I tried to walk the perilous line between "memorably quirky" and "too much of a freak for network TV."  So I mentioned that I had traveled to almost 40 countries... and three of the Seven Wonders of the New Roadside America (yes, there's a link missing; mysteriously, Twitty City -- Conway Twitty's spread -- is completely absent from the Roadside America website).  Okay, maybe that was a little on the freak side of the line.  Anyway, since then, the "Jeopardy" song has been stuck in my head -- no, not the music they play during Final Jeopardy, this one.  Combined with this one.

Since you'll ask, the deal is that they keep my information on file for a year, they tape from August to April, and they could call me at any time.  However, since they use about 400 people per season and 20-25,000 try out, I ain't holding my breath.

*****

The Twilight Samurai is not a traditional samurai movie; rather, it's an elegant, achingly melancholy film about a widower, Seibei, a skilled samurai who, instead of fighting, toils quietly and uncomplainingly at a clerical job (the mocking he suffers at the job, from coworkers who have no idea what his life is like and only know him as the shabby drone who scurries home at day's end instead of going out drinking, will hit a nerve for anyone who’s ever felt like the odd man out at work; the office gossip and politicking could be right out of a contemporary movie).  He’s a wonderfully appealing character, noble and dignified even in the face of degrading circumstances, maybe even a little too self-abnegating, and his budding relationship with his friend’s sister, Tomoe, is sweet and touching.  All he wants is to take care of his family, but he’s forced to reprise his fighting ways and faces a harsh choice.

The film moves rather slowly, but it rewards your patience with a terrific sword fight at the end and with a haunting emotional pay-off.  It’s beautifully done, with humor laced throughout the story, a gorgeously detailed re-creation of 19th-century Japan, and wonderful performances from the entire cast, particularly Hiroyuki Sanada (Seibei) and Rie Miyazawa (Tomoe).  Highly recommended.
 

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