A SAMURAI IN TIME Trailer Reveals Junichi Yasuda’s Fish Out Of Water Samurai Indie Romp!
Kenju To Medamayaki and Gohan director Junichi Yasuda will bring the swordsmanship and sharp laughs to Japan cinemas this year with his new adventure, A Samurai In Time. The official trailer finally arrived the other day featuring Makiya Yamaguchi, who spent much of the past decade or so in the TV arena before returning to film with 2019 period flick, Sho Igarashi’s Ninomiya Kinjirou.
At the end of the Edo period in Kyoto, during a stormy night a samurai prepares to fight against a ronin, when a flash of lighting hits and when he wakes up to find himself in a different time. He has been transported through time to the present day and the location where he was about to duel is now a film set for jidaigeki TV shows and movies. Still in his samurai clothes he is mistaken for an extra and immediately thrust into the world of jidaigeki productions. Due to his very ‘authentic’ look and speech, he starts working on many productions and finds himself playing the role of a “kirareyaku”, a swordsman whose job is to die spectacularly on film.
A Samurai In Time was shot on location at Toei Studios Kyoto, who took to backing Yasuda’s movie when the choice to steer the film independently fell ill to the Covid-19 pandemic at the time. A skeleton crew of ten people was all he had at his disposal by then while wearing multiple hats of his own on set, directing from his own script, as well as editing and handling cinematography and lighting for the production’s six-month duration.
The first official teaser arose last year as well, offering moviegoers a fresh look at Yamaguchi and what entails, before finally putting things in motion with an official trailer as of late. We also get a bustling new poster ahead of the film’s International Premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival which launches July 18.
A Samurai In Time also stars Norimasa Fuke, Yuno Sakura
Rantaro Mine, Yoshiharu Fukuda, Ichiko Kurenai, Ken Shonozaki, and
Tsutomu Tamura, with sword sequences by seasoned veteran Itto Seike of the Toei Sword Club.
The film had its World Premiere at last year’s Kyoto International Film And Arts Festival and will soon make its International Premiere this summer for Fantasia, as announced in the first wave. Read on for the rest of the film’s programming hype out of Fantasia, followed by the latest trailer and poster below!
The medieval warrior transported to modern times is a variant of the time-travel subgenre that has been explored many times around the world. Award-winning writer/director Junichi Yasuda (GOHAN), however, offers a take on the theme that’s not only clever, funny, and distinctly Japanese, but remarkably poignant. Shot on location at Toei Studios Kyoto, A SAMURAI IN TIME is held together by the subtle and convincing performance of lead actor Makiya Yamaguchi. More than just a fun fish-out-of-water fantasy, it’s an homage to samurai cinema as it wanes as surely as the shogunate once did.
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