Hana (film)

Hana (Hana yori mo Naho - 花よりもなほ)
Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
Produced by Nozomu Enoki
Shiho Sato
Hijiri Taguchi
Written by Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring Junichi Okada
Rie Miyazawa
Cinematography Yutaka Yamasaki
Edited by Hirokazu Koreeda
Distributed by Shochiku (Japan)
Funimation (USA)
Release date
 June 3, 2006
Running time
 127 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Hana - the Tale of a Reluctant Samurai, known in Japan as Hana yori mo Naho (花よりもなほ), is a 2006 Japanese jidaigeki by director Hirokazu Koreeda. The film was released in the United States by Funimation who also gave it an English-language dub.

Story

The story takes place over one year during Japan's Genroku era, beginning at the start of 1702.

A young and inexperienced samurai, Aoki Sozaemon, has come from Matsumoto to Edo. Living in a slum, he waits to locate and take revenge against his father's killer, to restore honor to his clan's name. However, his impoverished, revenge-driven life takes a negative toll on him, as does his discovery that his intended victim, another low-status samurai, has a wife and young children. Eventually, Soza must decide: to kill, or not kill?

Making up the backdrop of the film are the many other residents of the slum, including children, the landlord, a group putting on an amateur play, as well as a young widow, Osae, with whom Soza becomes romantically involved.

Unbeknownst to everyone, also living in the slum are a small group of samurai, members of The 47 Ronin, hiding and planning before their revenge attack on Kira Yoshinaka's mansion. This occurs one year later at the climax of the film.

Cast

References

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