Assassin

Masahiro Shinoda’s ASSASSIN was the director’s first period film—but it is hardly set in the safety of a past era, as its story, of a masterless samurai (Tetsuro Tamba) making his way amid the chaotic aftermath of Commodore Perry’s forcible contact with Japan in 1853, seems to resonate clearly in Japan’s post–World War II era. Shinoda presents a stark picture of social and political upheaval, spreading duplicity and dishonor, and the consequences of upending the established order in a society built on expectations of a rigid social order.

Starring Tetsuro Tamba, Eiji Okada, Eitaro Ozawa