13 Assassins (2010 film)

13 Assassins
The Japanese theatrical release poster of the film 13 Assassins
Japanese film poster
Directed by Takashi Miike
Produced by
  • Michihiko Umezawa
  • Minami Ichikawa
  • Tôichirô Shiraishi
  • Takahiro Ohno
  • Hirotsugu Yoshida
  • Shigeji Maeda
  • Masaaki Ujo
Screenplay by Daisuke Tengan
Story by Shōichirō Ikemiya[1]
Based on 13 Assassins
by Eiichi Kudo
Starring
Music by Kōji Endō
Cinematography Nobuyasu Kita[1]
Edited by Kenji Yamashita[1]
Production
companies
Distributed by Toho[2]
Release date
Running time
 125 minutes[3]
Country United Kingdom[1]
Japan[1]
Language Japanese
Budget $6 million[4]
Box office $17.5 million[5]

13 Assassins (Japanese: 十三人の刺客, Hepburn: Jūsannin no Shikaku) is a 2010 samurai film directed by Takashi Miike. It is a remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 Japanese black-and-white film 13 Assassins. Loosely based on historical events, the film is set in 1844 toward the end of the medieval Edo period. In the story, a group of thirteen assassins—composed of twelve samurai and a hunter—secretly plot to assassinate the savage leader of the Akashi clan, Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, before his appointment to the powerful Shogunate Council.

13 Assassins stars Kōji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Sōsuke Takaoka, Hiroki Matsukata, Kazuki Namioka, and Gorō Inagaki. It is the third film in which Yamada and Takaoka co-starred, the first two being Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2, both directed by Miike. Principal photography took place in the course of two months in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, in northern Japan, in the period from July to September 2009. The film opened in Japan on 25 September 2010 and in the United States on 29 April 2011 to very good reviews.

Plot

In 1844 of the Edo period, as the Tokugawa shogunate is in decline, Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu of Akashi rapes, tortures, and murders his citizens at will. He is shielded because the Shōgun is his half-brother. Sir Doi Toshitsura, the Shōgun's Justice, realizes that the situation will escalate after Naritsugu ascends to a higher political position. After a wronged party publicly commits seppuku as a way of showing disdain for Lord Naritsugu, Sir Doi seeks out a trusted older samurai, Shimada Shinzaemon, who served under the former shōgun, and secretly hires him to assassinate Naritsugu. However, Naritsugu's loyal retainers, led by Hanbei, an old contemporary of Shinzaemon, learn of the plot by spying on Doi's meetings.

Shinzaemon gathers eleven more trusted samurai including Shinzaemon's nephew, Shinrokurō, who together plan to ambush Naritsugu on his official journey from Edo to his lands in Akashi. Just before they leave, Hanbei arrives and warns his old colleague that he will suffer grave consequences if he tries to kill Naritsugu.

The group, with the legal authority and financial assistance of Sir Doi, buy the help of the town of Ochiai in order to create a trap. They also enlist the help of Makino, a minor lord whose daughter-in-law was raped and son murdered by Naritsugu. With troops, Makino blocks the official highway, forcing Naritsugu to head into town and the trap. During the assassins' own journey to the town, they are attacked by ronin who have been paid off by Hanbei to kill the plotters. The group decides to head through the mountains but end up getting lost. In the process they encounter a hunter named Kiga Koyata who becomes their guide; Shinzaemon eventually recruits him as the thirteenth assassin.

The town is converted into an elaborate maze of booby traps and camouflaged fortifications. When Naritsugu and his retinue arrive their numbers have been swelled with additional troops. The thirteen assassins are no longer facing seventy men-at-arms; now they face two hundred. A lengthy battle follows, with Naritsugu and his guards trapped inside the village and attacked on all sides by arrows, explosives, knives, and swords—with the exception of Koyata, who fights with rocks in slings. In the midst of this carnage, the deranged noble Naritsugu is elated. He tells Hanbei that when he ascends to the Shōgun's council he will bring back the wars of the Sengoku period.

The assassins are killed, but not before they inflict heavy damage on the Akashi forces. Eventually, Naritsugu and Hanbei are cornered by Shinzaemon and Shinrokurō. After Shinzaemon kills Hanbei, Naritsugu kicks his loyal retainer's head away, insulting the older samurai. Contemptuously, Naritsugu announces that both the people and the samurai have only one purpose and that is to serve their lords. Shinzaemon counters by telling Naritsugu that lords cannot live without the support of the people and that, if a lord abuses his power, the people will always rise against him. Naritsugu and Shinzaemon mortally wound each other. As the lord crawls away in mud crying and experiencing fear and pain for the first time, he thanks Shinzaemon for showing him excitement before Shinzaemon chops his head off.

After Shinzaemon dies, Shinrokurō wanders through the carnage. He meets the hunter Koyata, who has made a miraculous recovery after being stabbed in the neck by Naritsugu. The two then make their separate ways out of the town. An epilogue states that the Shōgun and his government covered up what really occurred, announcing that Naritsugu died of illness on the journey back to his lands. Twenty-three years later, the Tokugawa Shogunate would be overthrown with the Meiji Restoration.

Cast

Top to bottom: Kōji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada and Yūsuke Iseya
The ruler of the Akashi Domain. His violent atrocities in his land have gone unpunished since he is protected by the Shōgun, who is his half-brother.
The senior advisor to the Shogunate Council. Alarmed that Naritsugu has been considered by the Shōgun for a political position on the council, he hires Shinzaemon to kill Naritsugu beforehand.
A war-weary, decorated samurai who believes that there is more to Bushido than blind obedience. Convinced that there was no chance for an honorable death, he is deeply elated when hired to carry out the mission. He assembles a group of eleven samurai to plot an ambush on Naritsugu's annual journey from Edo to his land in Akashi.
Second-in-command to Shinzaemon, another veteran samurai who volunteers his best and most trusted students for the mission.
A masterless samurai of unmatched swordsmanship, who trained under Shinzaemon.
Shinzaemon's nephew, who has strayed from Bushido to become a gambler and a womanizer. Bored and ashamed, he joins the mission to redeem himself.
A hunter who is found suspended in a cage in the forest as a punishment for seducing his boss's wife and aids the assassins in finding a route to Ochiai. He is eventually recruited by Shinzaemon as the thirteenth assassin. Although not explicitly stated, it is heavily implied that he is a yōkai (supernatural entity).

Production

Director Takashi Miike

13 Assassins was produced through Toshiaki Nakazawa's film outfit, Sedic International, and Jeremy Thomas's Recorded Picture Company. Nakazawa had previously worked with director Takashi Miike on The Bird People in China and Andromedia (both in 1998), Yakuza Demon (2003), and Sukiyaki Western Django (2007).[2] At the start of production, Thomas said he was pleased to be working again with "wonderful Japanese filmmakers like Toshiaki Nakazawa and Takashi Miike, whose work speaks for itself as being amongst the most successful and innovative coming from Japan". Nakazawa replied that he would like Thomas "to wear a sword also, and with one more assassin, together we will send out the fourteen assassins over there".[2] Of his approach in directing the film, Miike said:

I felt that all of us working on our remake of 13 Assassins had to honour the original director, Eiichi Kudo, and everyone else who created the original. It was important to avoid doing what most modern-day chanbara do, which is to insert a love story, or interpose modern-day mindsets. Over the years, people have remade Kurosawa movies, but failed every time because they have not been able to adapt the story into something young audiences can understand.[8]

Having been a fan of Kōji Yakusho's acting, Miike made it a priority that he be cast in the leading role. In addition, he sought younger actors to play the assassins, in particular Sousuke Takaoka and Takayuki Yamada, with whom Miike had worked in his two films, Crows Zero (2007) and its sequel Crows Zero 2 (2009).[9] The film's screenplay was written by Daisuke Tengan, who had also written the screenplay for Miike's film Audition (1999).[10]

The film entered production over a two-month period.[11] Principal photography began in July 2009 on a large open-air set in Tsuruoka in the Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan.[12] The filming of the action scenes took about three weeks and was met with minor weather-related difficulties. Miike had strayed from the use of CGI in the film as well as planning the scenes via storyboarding, insisting on shooting the scenes right away.[13] In a separate interview, however, Miike said that some CGI were used, albeit minimal.[11] Over half of the thirteen actors playing the assassins were reportedly inexperienced in sword fighting and horseback riding,[8] and Miike wanted them to be just that, explaining, "If the actors had been skilled from the beginning, and had been in several samurai movies before, the way they approached the action would've been different; they probably would've ended up being something they were doing to look good or be beautiful, or to fall into the trappings of the stereotypical form that they had."[13] Filming concluded in early September 2009.[12]

Release

Theatrical run

Jeremy Thomas's London-based company HanWay Films handled international sales.[4] Toho had prebought the rights to distribute the film in Japan,[2] and released it on 25 September 2010.[14] The film competed for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2010.[15]

Magnet Releasing, a genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, acquired North American distribution rights for the film.[16] The film streamed video on demand in March 2011, and was released in theaters in the United States on 29 April.[17]

At the box office, 13 Assassins grossed $802,778 in the US and Canada.[5] From an estimated budget of $6 million,[4] it grossed $17,555,141 worldwide.[5]

Critical reception

13 Assassins drew very good reviews from critics,[18] many of whom praised its final battle sequence which takes forty-five minutes of screen time.[10][19][20] The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes offers a 96% approval rating from 122 critics (an average rating of 8 out of 10) and the consensus, "Takashi Miike's electric remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 period action film is a wild spectacle executed with killer, dizzying panache."[21] The film has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic (based on 33 critics), indicating "universal acclaim".[22]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described the film as "terrifically entertaining, an ambitious big-budget epic, directed with great visuals and sound" and compared it favorably to other action films in its subtle use of CGI effects; he gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four. Ebert also praised the way the film "focuses on story in the midst of violence", incorporating characters and drama with a skill that most blockbuster action films lack.[19] Ebert later included it in his Best Films of 2011 list as an addendum to his top 20.[23] Writing for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis chose 13 Assassins as her Critic's Pick and described it as "A stirring, unexpectedly moving story of love and blood..."[24] V. A. Musetto of the New York Post opined that the film was a nod to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) and Ran (1985), having referred to its climax as "a pulse-quickening masterpiece that would please the mighty Kurosawa".[25]

Mark Schilling of The Japan Times commended Miike's subtle yet orthodox approach to directing the film, as well as the performance of the ensemble cast, especially Kōji Yakusho. Schilling gave the film four stars out of five, but, notwithstanding other favorable comparisons, Schilling noted that it barely "strike[s] the deeper chords" of Seven Samurai.[7] Tom Mes of Film Comment said it "culminates in a riveting, ingeniously plotted, and inventively shot 45-minute battle scene that few contemporary Japanese directors besides Miike could pull off, either logistically or artistically".[10] Leslie Felperin of Variety praised the "gracefully executed" editing by Kenji Yamashita, the "terrific, character-defining" costume design by Kazuhiro Sawataishi, and the "rousing, propulsive score" by Miike collaborator Kōji Endō.[20]

Home media

The film's DVD and Blu-ray versions were released in the United States on 5 July 2011 by Magnet Releasing,[26] and in the United Kingdom on 5 September by Artificial Eye.[27] The DVD version was the 12th-bestselling DVD in its first week of availability in the US, selling 41,593 copies. In its second week, it dropped to 30th place, selling 13,922 copies. The Blu-ray version was the third-bestselling Blu-ray, selling 33,142 copies in its first week. In its second week, it dropped to 10,335 copies and was placed 20th.[28] The Blu-ray version garnered positive reviews from IGN, DVD Talk, Slant Magazine, and HuffPost UK.[29]

Accolades

In Japan, the film won four of its ten nominations at the 34th Japan Academy Prize,[30] and won both of its two nominations at the 32nd Yokohama Film Festival.[31] In 2014 Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors, and stunt actors to list their top action films.[32] 13 Assassins was listed at 94th place on the list.[33] The film made the British Film Institute's list of 10 great samurai films,[34] and was ranked at No. 5 on Screen Rant's 12 Best Action Movies You've Never Heard Of.[35]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref(s)
Asian Film Awards 21 March 2011 Best Production Design Hayashida Yuji Won [36]
Best Director Takashi Miike Nominated
Best Actor Kōji Yakusho Nominated
Best Editor Kenji Yamashita Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association Awards 28 December 2011 Top 10 Films — Ninth place [37]
Japan Academy Prize 18 February 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Nobuyasu Kita Won [30]
Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction — Won
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Yûji Hayashida Won
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording Jun Nakamura Won
Picture of the Year — Nominated
Director of the Year Takashi Miike Nominated
Screenplay of the Year Daisuke Tengan Nominated
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Kōji Yakusho Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Music Kōji Endō Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing Kenji Yamashita Nominated
Online Film Critics Society 2 January 2012 Best Foreign Language Film — Nominated [38]
Satellite Awards 18 December 2011 Best Foreign Language Film — Nominated [39]
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association 12 December 2011 Best Foreign Language Film — Won [40]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 5 December 2011 Best Foreign Language Film — Nominated [41]
Yokohama Film Festival 6 February 2011 Best Film — Won [31]
Best Screenplay Daisuke Tengan Won

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jûsan-nin no shikaku (2011)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kemp, Stuart (12 May 2009). "Duo gets behind Thirteen Assassins". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "13 Assassins (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 16 February 2011. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Cooper, Sarah (13 August 2009). "Shooting gets underway on Takashi Miike's Thirteen Assassins". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 "13 Assassins (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Ryan, David C. (14 November 2011). "Film Essay: The Natural Supernaturalism of the 13 Assassins". Identity Theory. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Schilling, Mark (24 September 2010). "'Jusannin no Shikaku (13 Assassins)'". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 Miike, Takashi (5 May 2011). "Takashi Miike: Why I am bringing Japanese classics back to life". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Mack, Andrew. "Takashi Miike talks 13 Assassins and More..." Screen Anarchy. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 Mes, Tom. "Review: 13 Assassins". Film Comment (May/June 2011). ISSN 0015-119X. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  11. 1 2 Heskins, Andrew (2 May 2011). "Takashi Miike Interview". EasternKicks.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  12. 1 2 Schilling, Mark (20 August 2009). "Yakusho joins Thirteen Assassins". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  13. 1 2 Smith, Jeremy (28 April 2011). "Takashi Miike And Mr. Beaks Talk 13 Assassins!". Ain't It Cool News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Young, Deborah (14 October 2010). "13 Assassins – Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Venezia 67". Venice Film Festival. 29 July 2010. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  16. ↑ J. Renninger, Bryce (22 September 2010). "Magnet Takes Takashi Miike Samurai Film 13 Assassins". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  17. ↑ Brevet, Brad (25 March 2011). "Trailer for Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  18. ↑ Cohen, Finn (15 September 2011). "The Swords Play and the Blood Spurts in 13 Assassins This Weekend in New Orleans". Complex. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  19. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (25 May 2011). "13 Assassins". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  20. 1 2 Felperin, Leslie (9 September 2010). "Review: 13 Assassins". Variety. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  21. ↑ "13 Assassins (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  22. ↑ "13 Assassins (2011)". Metacritic. CBS Interactive (CBS Corporation). Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  23. ↑ Ebert, Roger (15 December 2011). "The Best Films of 2011". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  24. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (28 April 2011). "Swords Drip Red With Revenge". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  25. ↑ Musetto, V. A. (29 April 2011). "13 Assassins". New York Post. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  26. ↑ Hurtado, Josh (6 July 2011). "Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins Blazes Onto Blu-ray/DVD July 5th From Magnet Releasing". Screen Anarchy. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  27. ↑ Foster, Dave (13 July 2011). "13 Assassins (UK) in September". The Digital Fix. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "Jûsan-nin no shikaku (2011): Video sales". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  29. ↑
    • Schaffer, R. L. (6 July 2011). "13 Assassins Blu-ray Review". IGN. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
    • Orndorf, Brian (4 July 2011). "13 Assassins (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
    • Heath, Jr., Glenn (17 July 2011). "13 Assassins". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
    • Skinner, Craig (31 August 2011). "Blu-ray Review: 13 Assassins". HuffPost. United Kingdom. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  30. 1 2 第 34 回日本アカデミー賞優秀賞 (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prize. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  31. 1 2 第32回ヨコハマ映画祭2011年2月6日（日）横浜･関内ホールベストテン･個人賞 (in Japanese). Yokohama Film Festival. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  32. ↑ "The 100 best action movies". Time Out. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  33. ↑ "The 100 best action movies: 100-91". Time Out. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  34. ↑ Sharp, Jasper. "10 great samurai films". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  35. ↑ DiGiulio, Matt (January 20, 2016). "12 Best Action Movies You've Never Heard Of". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  36. ↑ "Asian Film Awards 2011 winners". Screenz. 23 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  37. ↑ "2011 Awards". Austin Film Critics Association Awards. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  38. ↑ Knegt, Peter (3 January 2012). "The Tree of Life Leads Online Film Critics Society Awards". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  39. ↑ "International Press Academy 2011". International Press. Archived from the original on 29 April 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  40. ↑ Staff (19 December 2011). "The Artist wins five from St. Louis critics". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  41. ↑ "2011 WAFCA Awards". WAFCA press release. 5 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
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