Unforgiven

More than 50 years after Hollywood remade The Seven Samurai as The Magnificent Seven, Japanese director Lee Sang-il returns the favour by re-imagining Clint Eastwood's revenge western as a samurai film. Set in the same era as Clint's classic, but in a chaotic post-Shogunate Japan rather than the Wild West, the film centres on Jubei the Killer (Ken Watanabe), a famed ex-samurai who has turned his hand to farming. Times are tough, though, and he has two children to feed. So, when he's offered reward money for hunting down the men who disfigured a prostitute (Shiori Kutsuna), he reluctantly takes the job. The storyline transfers so comfortably from west to east that Sang-il gets away with an almost scene-for-scene reconstruction of the original. What fascinates is the culture shift to a Japan where swords and samurais are becoming things of the past. It's a curiosity, perhaps, but it's nicely made, beautifully acted and well worth seeking out.