I think there are some elements of truth to what the reviewer above says. I, too, wondered if the picture was going anywhere after the shaky start. A lot of the humor consists of loopy sight gags, and the protagonist hardly says a word throughout the picture.
A toothless samurai with no sword, a fugitive with a little girl tagging along behind him, he is captured when he wanders into the fiefdom of an unsympathetic Lord. The Lord tells him that, because he is a dishonored samurai he must commit seppuku (off himself) in 30 days, unless he can make his son, the Prince, smile. The Prince's mother recently died and he is grief-stricken.
Here proceeds a succession of sight gags, one a day, to make the Prince smile - but no luck. Some are funny, some not so, and some very elaborate, and I agree that American and Japanese funny bones must be in different places. The 30 day sequence of slapstick was as remarkable as it was noteworthy.
But at some point during the story I began to realize that Noki, the doomed samurai, had a death wish, that he didn't want to be saved. He apparently felt dishonor at his own wife's death as he was unable to save her, abandoned his sword, and wandered about. At about this same point, the movie was taken over by his 8 year old daughter, Tae, who tagged along behind and became his conscience and his cheerleader. I can't remember when I have seen a better acting job by a child, as she was exceptional and figuratively towered over everyone else in the cast.
This is basically a black comedy which nearly ends as a tragedy, but at the very end is uplifting and in a spiritual vein. The whole movie fell into place in the last twenty minutes and I came away with a good feeling. I hope I was right - after all, I'm from the West.
A toothless samurai with no sword, a fugitive with a little girl tagging along behind him, he is captured when he wanders into the fiefdom of an unsympathetic Lord. The Lord tells him that, because he is a dishonored samurai he must commit seppuku (off himself) in 30 days, unless he can make his son, the Prince, smile. The Prince's mother recently died and he is grief-stricken.
Here proceeds a succession of sight gags, one a day, to make the Prince smile - but no luck. Some are funny, some not so, and some very elaborate, and I agree that American and Japanese funny bones must be in different places. The 30 day sequence of slapstick was as remarkable as it was noteworthy.
But at some point during the story I began to realize that Noki, the doomed samurai, had a death wish, that he didn't want to be saved. He apparently felt dishonor at his own wife's death as he was unable to save her, abandoned his sword, and wandered about. At about this same point, the movie was taken over by his 8 year old daughter, Tae, who tagged along behind and became his conscience and his cheerleader. I can't remember when I have seen a better acting job by a child, as she was exceptional and figuratively towered over everyone else in the cast.
This is basically a black comedy which nearly ends as a tragedy, but at the very end is uplifting and in a spiritual vein. The whole movie fell into place in the last twenty minutes and I came away with a good feeling. I hope I was right - after all, I'm from the West.