It’s been a while since we heard from Yoshihiro Nakumura (Mumon: The Land Of Stealth, A Boy And His Samurai), and his return to the fray now brings us period samurai comedy, The 47 Ronin In Debt. You’ve probably been seeing this one circulate some if you’ve been following this film via its Romaji title, Kessan! Chushingura, but those are the titles – choose what you may.
In 1701, a feudal lord, Asano was told to kill himself by the government because he tried to kill a bureaucrat of the government, Kira. Asano’s right hand, Kuranosuke organized a revenge for Asano with his samurai retainers, so-called the revenge of the forty-seven rōnin.
In that era, a feudal domain was like a business company. Actually, first Kuranosuke tries not to do the revenge and keep the feudal domain = company alive. However, things do go well, and people in Edo expects them to get revenge for Kira. Finally, Kuranosuke decides to go for the revenge, but then, he realises they don’t have enough money left to prepare for the revenge…
The truth of the loyal samurai story is revealed with a hilarious comedy!?
The 47 Ronin In Debt is directed by Nakamura from his own script – adapted from the 2012 nonfiction novel by Hirofumi Yamamoto, and principally stars Shinichi Tsutsumi and Takashi Okamura (The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio), Satoshi Tsumabaki (Museum), Satomi Ishihara (Mumon: The Land Of Stealth, Noboru Iguchi’s Attack On Titan) and Gaku Hamada (Samurai Shifters).
Freestone represents the film internationally while Shochiku has etched a November 22 theatrical release.
