New on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment, Tadashi Imai’s 1963 film Cruel Tale of Bushido, a jidaigeki with a contemporary wraparound, is a multigenerational saga that openly pushes boundaries and challenges social mores in its analysis of a modern man realizing his place in a vicious and stupid cycle that consumed his ancestors.
When his fiance tries to commit suicide, low-level company man Susumu Iikura (Kinnosuke Nakamura) realizes not only his culpability for the strain that contributed to her depression, but is suddenly reminded of when he discovered his family annals recording centuries of their history going back many generations. A samurai family, his ancestral grandfathers served their lords faithfully.
Susumu recounts their tales, not of honor or victory, but of oppression and mistreatment. Each toiled and sacrificed faithfully in service to cruel or indifferent masters who cared only for wealth, power, and pleasure at the expense of their feudal subordinates.
Each of the tales features the same actor, Nakamura, also playing his various ancestors. It’s a dynamic and excellent performance, and with their varied ages, period dress, hairstyles, and personalities, I didn’t immediately catch on that they were same actor – it’s really quite an accomplishment.
The most memorable tale is one that’s only sparesely recorded, but Susumu reads between the lines to envision the true story of hidden shame: one ancestor who, while still a student, captured his lord’s fancy and was forced to submit as his sex slave, and admonished to never give his love to a woman. He broke that rule, keeping the genealogical line unbroken, but the penalty for spurning his master was severe.
These are indeed cruel tales, some worse than others. Each forefather strived to faithfully serve their lords and were punished for their effort: unjustly blamed for failures, or sacrificed for some gain.
Bridging into modern times, Susumu considers his own father, a kamikaze pilot who senselessly gave his life to the Empire for no ultimate purpose.
It was no better for their women either; in more than one case, their daughters, wife, or lover are manipulated, violated, and used as political collateral. And it’s this transference of cruelty that troubles Susumu most, realizing that his own guilt in hurting his fiance by putting his manipulative and uncaring workplace bosses ahead of his own betrothed.
Cruel Tales of Boshido is a tremendously interesting and thoughtful film from a unique and transitional postwar period. Imai is not only criticizing Bushido culture, but openly condemning it, and making it clear that modern Japanese society has not escaped the grasp of this ancient and toxic tradition. He frames kamikaze as a modern version of ritual suicides, and kaisha (company) culture as an extension of feudalism.
It’s absolutely worthy of analysis, and Eureka’s Blu-ray edition, which explores these themes, is a great way to not only enjoy the film but learn the important context around it.
The Package
Cruel Tale of Bushido arrives on domestic Blu-ray as Spine #345 from UK-based Eureka Entertainment, as art of their long-running Masters of Cinema series. Speaking personally, I think this may be my first acquisition of theirs since they partnered with MVD to expand to the US market, and it’s a nice deluxe release similar to those put out by Arrow Video.
The handsome limited edition release is housed in a transparent 14mm Blu-ray (ie Arrow-style) case, and features a slipcover (O-card) with artwork by Tony Stella, and a 20-page booklet written by Hayley Scanlon. The disc itself features some welcome bonus features.
Special Features and Extras
- Seven Kinds of Samurai: Tadashi Imai’s Cruel Tale (16:25) – a video essay by Jonathan Clements (A Brief History of Japan). Clements, who also narrates, provides a synopsis of the film’s generations of characters and explores the tale’s themes against its historical context: a postwar Japan, ready to rejoin the world, but carrying the baggage of centuries of complex and violent heritage.
- Tony Rayns on Cruel Tale of Bushido (21:32) – The always engaging and insightful Rayns provides a review and analysis of the film and its making. He discusses director Tadashi Imai’s regret for working on WWII propaganda films, and how the Cruel Tale of Bushido was a sort of course correction, critical of the Bushido code and its echoing effects. both Rayns and Clements spend some time discussing the film’s homosexual themes in a historical context.
- Trailer (3:11)
A/V Out
