Samurai Wolf and Samurai Wolf II
Directed by Hideo Gosha
Written by Kei Tasaka (I), Norifumi Suzuki, Kei Tasaka (II)
Starring Isao Natsuyagi
Runtime: 1 hour, 15 minutes (I), 1 hour, 12 minutes (II)
Now available on Blu-Ray from Film Movement

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

Synopsis of Samurai Wolf per Letterboxd:

This is the story of a vagrant samurai – the solitary, savage and scrupulous Kiba – who arrives at a village to defend a beautiful, blind woman against a sinister plot. Her assailants then send against him another samurai, named Sana, who is without scruples. The fight between them will become personal, for the honor and love of the blind woman.

Synopsis of Samurai Wolf II per Letterboxd:

Kiba Okaminosuke finds himself entangled with a group of prisoners being transported to their executions, one of whom oddly looks exactly like his dead father. There are crooked gold miners, a beautiful girl who is unfortunately a complete lunatic and a dojo master who is obsessed with killing Kiba just to prove that his school’s sword style is the best.

What features make it special?

Featurette on Hideo Gosha
Audio commentary with Chris Poggiali, co-author of These Fists Break Bricks
20 page booklet including essay by Robin Gatto, author of Hideo Gosha, cineaste sana maitre

Why you need to add it to your video library:

For many Westerners, their knowledge of samurai films begins and ends with Akira Kurosawa. And in some very real ways, most movies in that genre/setting are either inspired by or pushing back on the great master’s work. Hideo Gosha’s Samurai Wolf duology is no exception, exemplifying zankoku jidaideki (cruel period piece) as he takes inspiration from spaghetti westerns the way that Kuroswawa incorporated his appreciation of John Ford and others into his work. Gosha makes these influences his own, and watching them back to back makes for an excellent double feature. They have slightly different tones, but the action is equally thrilling, exactly what I want it in a pair like this. Both Samurai Wolfs allow Gosha to show off his inventive and often weighty framing to convey the deep emotions on display within this rugged story. While there is so much humanity in Kurosawa’s samurai tales, these two films lean more into rage and lust. Isao Natsuyagi’s performance as the lead has a wholly different charisma than Toshiro Mifune, as a younger, more raw kind of ronin. His passions run hot, and that gives Samurai Wolf a different kind of urgency, allowing bloody action to break out at almost any moment. Both of these movies are incredibly fun and exceptionally directed. I especially loved the way silence and slow motion are used throughout, showing the spaghetti western influence while also using them for entirely different effects here. I can’t recommend these enough for fans of sword fighting movies.

Samurai Wolf I and II are now available on Blu-Ray here.