BUSHIDO: A Quiet Work of Samurai Cinema Brilliance

Bushido: A feudal-military Japanese code of behavior valuing honor above life

When we first meet Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and his daughter Okinu (Kaya Kiyohara), their simple life belies a tumultuous past. Quiet, low stakes, and observational, writer Masato Kato and director Katzuya Shiraishi’s Bushido initially depicts a humble story of a father and daughter simply trying to pay their rent in samurai era Edo. An honorable craftsman and brilliant go player, Kakunoshin appears to be simply trying to make it in a true everyman kind of way.

But Kakunoshin is far from an everyman. An honorable samurai who was framed and cast out from his lordship’s castle, his life is as it is after the tragic loss of his wife and a betrayal that has brought him low. Developments over the course of this brilliant tale will allow him a chance to prove his innocence, but the stakes are high and the odds are stacked against this quiet and noble warrior.

Aptly named, Bushido lays out a story in which a simple man doing his best to live honorably is at times able to gain respect and admiration from his peers and community as he lives out his code of honor with authenticity and quiet grace. His nobility also creates enemies among those in this world who would cut corners and betray others to get ahead. The drama of Bushido comes not from whether our hero is honorable or not; Kakunoshins stubborn, quiet, and confident lifestyle of honor above life is more or less never in question. The drama comes from whether the world around him will reward his slavish devotion to doing what is right, whether the respect he’s earned from his community through a lifetime of honorable interactions win the day over the villains who have taken everything from him. The final act, like a complex game of go, will keep audiences riveted. With everything imaginable on the line, Kakunoshin will face off against the man who ruined him in a go match, against a ticking clock to save his daughter from a life in a brothel, to regain his honor. It’s life or death, and our heroes’ lives and honor are on the line, as is the entire code of bushido itself. Will righteousness at all costs win the day? Or cruelty and self-service?

Bushido is my favorite film of 2026 thus far, by a comfortable margin. I love samurai cinema of all stripes, from the grand, sweeping style with massive battles and budgets, to the action-packed, adrenalized, stuffed-to-the-gills-with-ninjas types. It’s possible, though, that the quiet and contemplative entries in samurai cinema, such as Bushido and the absolute masterpiece Twilight Samurai, are my very favorite style of samurai cinema. Kakunoshin is a profoundly inspiring hero not because he’s the strongest, most badass killer of killers. No, he’s a hero because he says what he means, he lives out his values, and he puts everything on the line to do what is right; damn the consequences. We don’t live in an age of honor. Selling out to get by, cutting corners to improve profit margins, might making right… these are the codes of our day. And we suffer greatly as a society for not only not having the courage of our convictions, but for barely having any convictions at all. I may not entirely understand the game of go (and I’m certain viewers who do know it intimately will get even more out of Bushido), but I can see the beauty and symbolism of a (gorgeously cinematic) game of honor being played at the highest of stakes and how much it matters whether we navigate this world honorably, as individuals and as societies.

Bushido is the kind of cinema that makes you want to be a better person, that inspires you to cheer for its quiet heroes, and reminds you of the innumerable reasons why the world conspires to strip honor away in favor of ease. Kakunoshin and Okinu’s struggle to simply live is as cinematic of a quest as they come, harkening back to classical samurai cinema of old, and speaking profoundly to the compromised world we still live in today. What price are we willing to pay to do what is right for ourselves and our neighbors today in a culture that rewards sycophancy, extols selfishness, and elevates the powerful beyond accountability?

And I’m Out.

Bushido hits US theaters March 13th, 2026 from Film Movement