Lucid NonsenseMovies / 2026
The Samurai and the Prisoner
黒牢城
Seen in a theater
When Lord Murashige rises up against the tyrannical Oda, he finds himself besieged within the walls of his own castle. Isolated, he is confronted with a series of mysterious crimes that shatter the fragile order of his court, plunging the fortress into fear and suspicion. With Oda's army closing in and a traitor hiding among his ranks, Murashige is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kanbei, a brilliant and dangerous strategist held prisoner in the dungeon, as he must outwit his enemies and uncover the truth before time runs out.
Review
A gorgeous film, I loved most of this, but agree with others it started to drag a little in the end. What it does well is identifying that the core of a samurai movie is that the samurai way of life is a belief system, in much the way religion is. And I think the movie knocks it out of the park in that regard. The samurai can accept and often crave death, while the peasants fear it. Their code of honor and belief is stronger than any paltry religion. And that's great! I think the core problem with the ending is that it has some wonderful ambiguity, and a terrible literalness. End the film a few frames earlier and we've got an all time banger.
Consumption history1
Completed
Theater viewing
External identifiers
- tmdb
- 1620313
- letterboxd
- 10t6g