A SAMURAI IN TIME Review – Fantasia International Film Festival 2024

The best film to come out of Fantasia, Junichi Yasuda’s “A Samurai in Time” is a heartfelt, humorous film of purpose and destiny, bolstered by Makiya Yamaguchi’s terrific lead performance.

Synopsis

A samurai who gets hit by lightning wakes up to find himself on a film set in the present day and starts to work as an extra on samurai films.

Review
When you are attending any festival, whether it be the Fantasia International Film Festival or any other, you can run into a rarity where there’s a film with great character and terrific heart. Junichi Yasuda’s film “A Samurai in Time” is a gem as it has heart, character, drama, terrific writing and excellent acting. Easily my favorite from the Fantasia festival, “Samurai in Time” follows samurai Kosaka Shinzaemon (Makiya Yamaguchi) who, after a flash of lightening in a dramatic showdown, finds himself transported a century and a half into the present day….on the set of a jidaigeki (period drama) television production. As he adjusts to this brand-new world of motion pictures and great food, he finds himself an invaluable asset to the jidaigeki production team as a stuntman. This Japanese film is not only a love letter to the jidaigeki genre, it’s a love letter to cinema and film workers in general.

Transporting an honorable samurai a century into the future and turning him into a lauded, hardworking stuntman on jidaigeki productions is a hilarious, ironic concept. But the ingenious magic trick “Samurai in Time” pulls off with this concept is that it uses it as a springboard for a film that has palpable heart and terrific character. In a role of a lifetime, Makiya Yamaguchi delivers an excellent performance as Kosaka – a man who is experiencing everything (literally everything) in our present era for the first time. He delivers hilarious fright when he sees a motion picture for the first time, childlike awe when he tastes a delicious cake (in awe that his caretakers just bought it from a nearby bakery – what a concept) and is initially confused when he sees a “scene” play out in front of him, not quite catching on to what a “scene” is. It’s a terrific role of childlike wonder but that’s not to say Kosaka is a child, he is a man that lives with regret of not finishing the fight on the fateful night he was transported. He is a man that questions his purpose, thinking being a samurai was all that there was to his world. He is a stranger in a strange land…that wonders if he belongs anywhere. These thoughts of self-deception and sadness are expressed in Yamaguchi’s performance without a single word uttered. His facial expressions can say a million words at one time – when he is sad, we feel it thrice over, when he is vindicated, we are clapping our hands with excitement. A terrific foil to his character, Norimasa Fuke brings depth to his role as Kyoichiro Kazami, a superstar actor that is returning to the jidaigeki genre and tasks Kosaka to star alongside him, impressed with his skills. Fuke’s performance grows on us, he’s a man that understands the craft as much as Kosaka does and is inspired by Kosaka’s hard work to help give life back to a dying genre.

Junichi Yasuda’s “A Samurai in Time” is a true gem – a film that surprises you at every turn with where it’s going and how it ends up there. What begins as a quirky story of a samurai transported to present day ends as a powerful story of pride, guilt and purpose. Yasuda, who is not just credited as writer and director but also for VFX and cinematography, doesn’t rely on extravagantly choreographed scenes or jaw-dropping fight scenes to keep our attention. He relies on character and heart and as the film progresses, we end up at a tense, heart-stopping climax where the resolution could be epically fatal. To create such a tension in a film that begins with a quirky, ironic premise is magic within itself – and reminds us why we love going to the cinema. Though its runtime could do with a bit of trim (clocking in at 131 minutes), there is not one moment in this film where you are not entertained. Whether you’re laughing, clapping, shouting or crying – this is a film that is not to be missed.

Closing Thoughts
“A Samurai in Time” is by far the best film I’ve seen at the Fantasia International Film Festival. Makiya Yamaguchi delivers the performance of a lifetime as Kosaka, bringing this heartfelt, humorous story to life through his role. Dedicated to the memory of Seizo Fukumoto, a jidaigeki regular who is said to have been killed tens of thousands of times on screen, “Samurai in Time” comes from the heart and it is made with passion. If there’s any film one plans to see from around the world or across the pond, trust me when I say this film should no doubt be pushed to the top of that list. See this film.

Trailer