13 Assassins

A gob-smackingly beautiful and majestically violent samurai movie from acclaimed director Takeshi Miike (Audition, Zatoichi, Ichi the Killer).

In 1840s Japan, the sadistic young Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu rapes and kills at will. As the current Shogun’s younger brother, Naritsugu is above the law, so Shinzaemon, a trusted older samurai, is secretly hired to assassinate him. Shinzaemon assembles a loyal team of samurai for this seemingly suicidal mission to get past the lord’s 200-strong personal army.

“Probably the closest modern cinema has come to Akira Kurosawa’s mud-and-blood-caked Samurai showdowns. The film is built as a long crescendo, opening at a level of considered, Zen-like reflection and ending with a prolonged cacophony of elaborate, town-wide annihilation. Miike’s film is all the more triumphant for offering elaborate, tangible sets, elegant period attire, hardboiled dialogue and rolling oceans of glorious, rosy red blood. Pure joy.” TIME OUT

“An ambush against a hated feudal lord, meticulously planned and long in the build-up, pays off thrillingly with a virtuoso 45-minute bloodbath you won’t easily forget. A sustained frenzy of blistering choreographic skill that Hollywood won’t top all year” TELEGRAPH