Samurai Saga (1959)

 Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Saga"


I was very much an admirer of Hiroshi Inagaki's 'Samurai Trilogy.' However, outside of this trilogy, I am not really vibing much with what he has to offer. Sure, 1958's "Muhomatsu, Ricksaw Man" had some merits to it. But after watching his 1959 film "Samurai Saga," I came to the conclusion that Inagaki wasn't really for me.

"Samurai Saga" essentially just asks: "What if a samurai had a big nose?" An age old question, right? Essentially what spawns from this question in the film is a carbon copy of the classic play "Cyrano de Bergerac." In the context of 18th century samurai, however, it doesn't really make for anything too profound or entertaining. 

That being said, I didn't completely hate the film. Instead, I found this absurdity to be rather amusing at times. Would I ever watch this film again? Of course not. Was the experience of watching a complete waste of time? Not necessarily. 



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