Samurai!!! Japanese Film Festival

The Japanese Film Festival fights its way onto the big screen

Comments (0) By Julia Ramey Thursday, Mar 27 2008

Plenty of modern Hollywood bigshots, from Quentin Tarantino to Tom Cruise, have been seduced by the Japanese legend of the samurai, but it’s still rare to find a good example of the genre on the big screen. Samurai!!! Japanese Film Festival, to be held at the University of St. Thomas, will fix that. Kon Ichikawa’s 2000 Dora-Heita, showing today, deals with a magistrate who infiltrates his town’s seedy underbelly. Yoji Yamada’s 2002 Twilight Samurai screens Saturday, offering a departure from the violence and action of the genre by focusing on a warrior who seeks a quiet family life despite his fellow samurais’ mocking. And Kihachi Okamoto’s 1968 Kill!, which screens Thursday, deals with a farmer who wants to be a samurai and a samurai who’s tired of his military life. When these directors called “Action!” they really meant it. 7:30 p.m. Anderson Hall, 3921 Mt. Vernon. For information, call 713-652-2977 ext. 2115, or visit www.houston.us.emb-japan.go.jp. Free.
Fri., March 28, 7:30 p.m., 2008