Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

e-70733 Both the setting of the theme and the creation of the emotional atmosphere tend to make the film more romantic. And exquisite detail guarantees the reliability that a drama about ancient Japan should have. Although the film mainly focuses on the daily life of a samurai, the director Yôji Yamada still gave a little bit of chivalric romance to the ending. However, there is no coexistence between the everyday life and the spirit of a samurai. Therefore, the protagonist's choice finally writes a summary for this passing era.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Subtitles = eight (8) stars; sets/decoration = eight (8) stars; "score" = six (6) stars; costumes = four (4) stars. Director Youji Yamada's uninspired slice-of-life Shomin Geki (home drama) involving a castle-commuting samurai rendered blind from tasting poisoned food before it is served to the feudal lord (of, presumably, Osaka-Jo castle). The plot line of this tale offers a fascinating possibility which is toyed with, but discarded by the Director (to wit, the emergence of a skilled and renounced swordsman who uses sound rather than vision to vanquish his adversaries). Instead, Yamada provides a well-telegraphed (fully-expected), romantic happy ending (and a circular story). Acting is fine with overly melodramatic tendencies kept in check by Yamada. Costumes are bland, but sets and the decoration thereof are excellent. Film score is intermittent aside from the opening and closing credits; it consists essentially of one beautiful and haunting Leif Motif. Surround sound field is excellent, but sparsely utilized. Cinematography (semi-wide screen (1.85:1 aspect ratio), color), lighting, and editing are very good. Another Shochiku Studio middling programmer. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

MartinHafer I love the Zatoichi films and have seen all but the very latest rebooting of the series ("Zatoichi the Last"--which is not available yet in the US). So it's obvious that I am a fan of the movies. However, I will also be the first to admit that they are completely ridiculous. After all, a completely blind swordsman who is able to take on dozens of opponents in each film and win is completely impossible...at least on this planet! Because of this, it's great to see "Love and Honor"--a Japanese film with a blind swordsman that is actually believable!! The film begins with Shinnojo Mimura working for his lord as a food taster. One day, the unthinkable happens and Shinnojo is poisoned. While this ends up saving his master's life, it also ends up nearly killing Shinnojo and leaving him blind! And, as sometimes occurs in the tough feudal society, Shinnojo is left without a purpose and the prospect of losing his income. Some thanks for service to his master, huh?! However, uncharacteristic of many samurai films, soon Shinnojo learns that his master has not forgotten him and will keep giving him his original salary. So how does this end up resulting in Shinnojo fighting someone even though he's blind?! Well, I don't want to ruin the story--just watch this one.The film has many, many strengths. It is a wonderful story, has a very thrilling conclusion and a touching love story--albeit an odd one! Well performed all around and one of the better samurai films I have seen--and I have seen quite a few. Well worth your time.

DICK STEEL Love and Honor is the concluding chapter to director Yoji Yamada's loose samurai trilogy. Personally, I have enjoyed the other two, Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade, because they are extremely well made, and have important stories to tell, rather than focusing its energies onto huge action sets with plenty of sword wielding, and Love and Honor is no different.Shinnojo Mimura (Takuya Kimura) is a lowly Japanese samurai, who's employed by his clan as a food taster. It's a dead end job with zero job satisfaction, and Shinnojo reveals in a conversation with his wife Kayo (Rei Dan) that he dreams of opening up a kendo dojo of his own, and recruiting students to teach regardless of their caste. It's a noble dream, but one that is cut short when he gets blinded during one of the food tasting sessions, eating sashimi made from fish which is poisonous when out of season.Like its title suggests, Love and Honor is an intense love story based on those two themes. With Shinnojo handicapped, fears are abound within the family that without a job, they will lose their status and material wealth. And Shinnojo's growing negative attitude toward life doesn't help either. Stress befalls Kayo, and on the ill advice of her aunt, she seeks to find a powerful samurai Shimada (Mitsugoro Bando) to help them out of their plight.No man enjoys his wife having to bring home the bacon on his behalf, especially not when it involves favours with another man who's vastly superior, not in feudal Japan. It's an interesting character study into the 3 characters, of love, defending of honor, envy, jealousy. And it all comes to an end in what I thought was a very touching finale. As mentioned, don't anticipate any sword fighting action to be a huge spectacle. Rather, the one here seemed to be rather rooted with realism. When it boiled down to the sword, every slash, parry, thrust seemed made with measurable consideration, with forceful purpose. Given Shinnojo's blindness, don't expect Zaitochi styled super-samurai feats, and in fact, Shinnojo's struggles are more to do with things from within.Takuya Kimura, whom I last seen in 2046, has aged for this role. He looked mature and pretty much left his pretty boy days quite far behind to bring certain gravitas to his character. Rei Dan in a debut is on par with the recognizable female leads in the previous trilogy movies, and is excellent too in her role as like the other female characters, and a memorable one too. And not all's bleak in the movie, with Takashi Sasano's servant character Tokuhei bringing about some light hearted moments with his earnestness and wit.Samurai movies have been possibly enriched by Yoji Yamada's trilogy contribution, and Love and Honor triumphs slightly over its predecessors to bring the series into a fitting close. Recommended!