The summer of the samurai
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The summer of the samurai |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| length | 104 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans-Christoph Blumenberg |
| script | Hans-Christoph Blumenberg, Carola Stern , Frederick Spindale |
| production | Michael Bittins |
| music | Hubert Bartholomae |
| camera | Wolfgang Dickmann |
| cut | Moune Barius |
| occupation | |
| |
The summer of the samurai is a German crime / thriller by Hans-Christoph Blumenberg , a former film critic for Die Zeit . The director's second production celebrated its German premiere on June 19, 1986.
action
A mysterious burglar dressed in black is up to mischief in Hamburg . The "Japan Phantom" steals incriminating documents from dignitaries who are suspected of being corrupt, among other things, burns large amounts of cash and leaves Japanese characters at the scene of the crime. Soon after, these mysterious symbols are found all over the Hanseatic city. As a result of these acts, the victims often get into financial difficulties, and the police are at a loss and initially grope in the dark.
The journalist Christiane Land is researching the strange series of burglaries and comes across connections with the seedy speculator Krall. Krall is considered to be the head of a conspiracy of influential Hanseatic personalities. The entrepreneur, who lives in seclusion in a well-guarded moated castle , once stole a valuable samurai sword with his friends on an excursion in Japan, thus provoking the wrath of a samurai . In order to assert himself against this deadly avenger, an expert advises him to hire a ninja to hunt the unknown.
Meanwhile, Land has achieved a breakthrough. She will discover the secret of the Japanese characters, which represent a group of 47 legendary ronin of the early 18th century under the leadership of Oishi Kuranosuke. The newspaper reporter succeeds in identifying the financial broker Wilcke, the adopted son of a descendant of Kuranosuke, as the phantom. Wilcke explicitly mentions as a motive to recapture his family sword stolen by Krall; At the same time, he also clears up the corrupt “quagmire of the city”, which also includes his victims. Since she personally approves of this goal and the story of the 47 Rōnin has cast a spell over her, Land has kept silent about the police and her editor, who is constantly pushing her for a breakthrough in this case.
At the end of the film, Wilcke attacks Krall's refuge one night. The always superior and battle-tested financier kills various security guards of the barricaded businessman and the waiting ninja, but spares the life of the whimpering claw as a more effective type of punishment. Ultimately he finds the sword he is looking for and disappears without a trace. Land remains alone and comments his farewell ironically dryly with "Good night, Oishi Kuranosuke."
Reviews
“The second feature film by the former film critic Blumenberg is an amusing game of confusion, a mixture of film art and colportage, American genre cinema and Japanese myths. The bold project of coming to terms with the reality of the Federal Republic of Germany by means of trivial culture does not always succeed, but it has a bizarre charm and considerable entertainment value. "
“In this movie fairy tale, which oscillates between fantasy and realism, the director and film critic Blumenberg mixes figures from the Kolportag literature with ideas from the fund of fantastic screen stories from the early days of cinema. This happens in such a sovereign manner that the adventurous fiction expands the view of the reality represented. The quotes from film history, the elements of trivial narrative forms and popularized dramaturgy never seem like intellectual gimmicks, but give the story tongue-in-cheek originality. "
The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.
Web links
- The Summer of the Samurai in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The summer of the samurai at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Summer of the Samurai. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .