Hana yori mo naho (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2006)

Hana yori mo naho (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2006)
Rating: 7.4

Hirokazu Koreeda's film Hana (2006) is an atypical jidai-geki film. Most of the elements are in tact, such as archetypical characters, and familiar iconography. There is Soza, a samurai seeking revenge for the death of his father, the lovable town fool, Sadasa, the wiser elder, the subplot of Sobesan who is separated from his love, only to find out she has married the land lord, and the two lonely old folks who find comfort with each other and move in together. Despite these familiar stories and characters, Hana deconstructs "the way of the samurai." The main character, Soza, never avenges his fathers death by way of the sword, as his uncle informs him in one particular scene "revenge is not the only way to show devotion." Soza, is in fact rather inept to fight. Several scenes challenge the usefulness of the samurai during the times of peace they are living in and begs the question "Why do samurai exist?". Sobesan, a wreckless and amateur fighter, uses cheap tactics to defeat and embarrass Soza in front of many onlookers, in order to prove the uselessness of his fencing abilities in reality. Sadasa remarks soon after this scene that "the samurai revenge thing is out of style, besides with your skills, you're doomed." Another telling scene was when the samurai kids are bullying the peasant kids. They samurai children claim that they were born better than the others, while Yoshi replies by yelling, "Who says so? What's so great about being a samurai?"
Soza's weakness is a definite reveresal of expectations for spectator's used to watching classic samurai films. Everyday comedy of reality is used throughout the film such as the character's having difficulty closing the sliding doors. These sorts of trite situations are not typically explored in this genre especially. The genre itself is a means of creating nostaligia. Anyone who has seen some of Kurosawa's films can't help, but be reminded of Yojimbo, or Sanjuro because of the the comedy, the unkempt and abnormal nature of the hero played by Toshiro Mifune, and the samurai's use of wits to succeed. I also noticed Koreeda used frame wipe transitions in several instances, which Kurosawa commonly used in his films. Aside from the nostalgia of the cinema, this film creates a feel good familial bond towards the end, and perhaps can create a feeling of nostalgia reminding viewers of fond experiences.
It is not simply Soza's inabilities with a sword that prevent him from avenging his father's killer, as he has the opportunities to do so, but rather his struggle with the moral and ethic implications of it. We see several point of view shots of his "enemy" with his wife and child. These shots are meant to portray Soza's sympathy as well as inspire pathos for the audience. Soza has a conversation with his brother when he returns to his tribe. His brother informs him that "pity and and emotions have no place in a samurai's heart." In the end Soza decides human values are more important to him than the samurai code. Instead of killing a man he doesn't even know and passing on the hatred his father left him to his "enemy's" family he cleverly stages a revenge play in order to make it appear as though he avenged his father's death and collect his inheritance.