How far back can you trace your ancestors, so you get an idea of what they were like? Not merely names in the inside cover of your Bible. But a sense of their personality and a major event in their life. I can only do this to my great grandfather. But there are people who have traced their family tree back to the Colonial era or where their ancestors came from before they moved to America. Cruel Tale of Bushido is a legendary film about a man who can go back seven generations and nearly 350 years. This is mostly thanks to writing from all the various ancestors that have been held as sacred texts in his family. He’s taken the time to read so their stories are a part of him.
A businessman (The Shogun Assassins‘ Kinnosuke Nakamura) has to rush down to a nearby hospital after his girlfriend has overdosed on pills. Things aren’t looking good for her. He finds himself remembering the stories he had read from his male ancestors. They were samurai in feudal Japan. While that would seem great, they had plenty of issues at staying alive. He is from a family of extremely loyal men to those above them. This includes one who must follow his Lord into the afterlife and forget about his wife and kids. You’ll get a good idea of how the samurai ritually off themself. Another one of his ancestors gets told by his Lord that he needs to stop going near his woman and be his lover. Otherwise bad things will (and do) happen. There’s even one Lord who has his own special beheading method. His family line seems always doomed even if they seem sort of successful. This includes his own father’s service during World War II. Is he going to be able to break the family’s loyalty to the Bushido code?
Kinnosuke Nakamura does a career making performance playing all of his ancestors over the centuries. He changes up the little things between each ill-fated man. We don’t lose track of shared traits. The folks who did his makeup and hair come up with ways to make him look slightly different. You don’t easily confuse who in the past he’s playing. Although you see the family resemblance at each stage. Tadashi Imai and the writers create a film that exposes the dark side of life as a Samurai. It was all about running around Japan and fighting with long swords. There was a lot of messed up stuff that came along with the noble title. We witness a lot of savage brutality on the screen. Cruel Story of Bushido really gives us a sense of how cruel things can be generation after generation in Japan.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer is from a 4K restoration. This is a very beautiful film with the black and white imagery of the various eras. The Audio is Japanese LPCM 2.0 mono and DTS-HD MA 3.0. Both have been cleaned up so you can enjoy silence in the awkward scenes. The movie is subtitled in English.
Tony Rayns on Cruel Tale of Bushido (21:32) points out the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 1963 and won the Golden Bear. It brought prestige to director Tadashi Imai. He points out how Imai got his start making Japanese propaganda films. He would atone for this by joining the communist party. Tony talks about the Bushido code.
Seven Kinds of Samurai (16:25) is a video essay by Jonathan Clements that deals with unspoken Samurai abuses during this era. He gets into how sad people are at the big birthday party. He explores how the modern melodrama frames the samurai action. We get a brief of the Tokyo Olympics that were happening and its meaning to presenting itself to the world. We learn how Mondo Cane influenced the title of the film.
Trailer (3:11) lets us know that this is not a normal samurai tale. We see Kinnosuke Nakamura as the different ancestors.
Illustrated Booklet with an essay by Haley Scanlon.
Eureka! Entertainment presents Cruel Tale of Bushido: Limited Edition. Directed by Tadashi Imai. Screenplay by Norio Nanjo, Naoyuki Suzuki & Yoshikata Yoda. Starring Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura, Eijirō Tōno, Kyōko Kishida, Masayuki Mori, Shinjirō Ehara, Yoshiko Mita, Ineko Arima & Isao Kimura. Running Time: 123 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: March 24, 2026.
