Love and Honor (Bushi no ichibun) (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Teaser Trailer-(2) Theatrical Trailer-(1:43) Gallery-10 Stills Trailer-Zatoichi At Large; Rashomon; The Myth;Incident at Blood Pass Reversible Cover
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	117:02
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (81:04)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yôji Yamada
Studio Distributor	Shochiku Madman Entertainment	Starring	Takuya Kimura Rei Dan Mitsugoro Bando Takashi Sasano Kaori Momoi Nenji Kobayashi Ken Ogata
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Isao Tomita

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese dts 5.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Shinnojo Mimura (Takuya Kimura) is a clan squire, serving in the not-very-highly coveted position of poison taster. His doting wife, Kayo (Rei Dan), is regarded as the most beautiful woman in the town and Shinnojo dreams of one day opening a Kendo school for children and lower class citizens. Life couldn't be more peachy for a man of his rank, but Kayo underestimates the hazards of her husband's job, much to his bemusement. The inevitable happens and Shinnojo is poisoned by a toxic, poorly prepared shell fish. He is returned home barely alive; unconscious, with a fever, and after a lengthy battle in bed ends up blind for his efforts. Now with no steady income and certainly unable to support his wife, their prospects aren't particularly good to say the least.

    While Shinnojo is initially furious and deeply burdened by his reliance on others, Kayo is optimistic in the face of life's challenges. Her willingness to work as a maid is frowned upon by her family, and they are relieved to learn she has been offered assistance by a high-ranking samurai admirer, Chief Superintendent Shimada (Mitsugoro Bando). All this drama eventually amounts to good news, as the grinding wheels of bureaucracy grant Shinnojo the right to retain his 30 Koku stipend for the remainder of his life, along with a pat on the back for his services to the clan.

    Time passes and nasty rumours begin to circulate of his sweet wife, Kayo, being seen of an evening in the company of an unnamed, decorated samurai in a bawdy local tea house. Obviously upset and suspicious of Kayo, he dispatches his servant to spy on her, only to have his fears compounded when her teahouse rendezvous with the samurai lord is confirmed. Confronting her, Kayo explains to Shinnojo that the samurai took advantage of her, promising to use his bureaucratic influence to help maintain their lifestyle. He furiously ejects her and begins training day and night, with the intention of fighting for his honour. Despite the urges of those around him, Shinnojo insists his blindness is a strength that will catch his opponent off guard. Will Shinnojo's sheer rage towards his foe be enough to do the trick when it comes to the final showdown?

    Love and Honor marks the third and final instalment in veteran Director Yoji Yamada's Samurai Trilogy; the first two being The Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade. These are not your usual blood-letting Samurai swordplay films, rather they are deep character dramas with detailed insight into character's formal daily routines and roles within their clan. They are beautifully picturesque, emotionally rewarding films that only strengthen in appeal the more you view them. Yamada is truly a master filmmaker, and it may be some time before we see Samurai dramas directed with this calibre again.

Video

    This is a very nice PAL video transfer, presented in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The feature transfer is also 16x9 enhanced.

    The level of visible detail is good for an SD transfer. Shadow detail is excellent and the many dark scenes exhibit good depth and detail. There was no low level noise evident in the transfer.

    Colours appear slightly muted and may have been manipulated to accentuate the various seasons in which the film is depicted. There are no dire colour issues to speak of.

    MPEG compression artefacts are minimal, in fact there were none that stood out to me as particularly noteworthy. Film artefacts are present in the form of tiny specs of dust that can be seen intermittently, but are not even slightly distracting in nature. A mild degree of film grain can be seen on occasion which is totally acceptable.

    An English subtitle stream is activated by default and is comprised of a white font with a thin black outline. The text is very easy to follow and void of any annoying errors.

    This disc is DVD9 formatted, with a layer transition placed during the feature. There was no noticeable pause on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two soundtracks accompanying this film on DVD; both of which are the film's original Japanese language. The default soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). I couldn't resist the full bitrate (1536Kb/s) dts 5.0 alternative, which is mistakenly listed as "dts 5.1" on both the cover slick and disc menu.

    The dialogue is crystal clear and always easily discernable in the soundtrack. There are no obvious ADR or audio sync issues at all.

    Surround channel usage is limited to some light atmospherics and a bit of score here and there. Otherwise, this mix is mostly frontal. This film doesn't really demand an aggressive surround mix, so I'm content with the mix we have here.

    The dts is obviously the pick of the two here, with a depth and brightness that is barely hinted at in the Dolby default. Due to the obvious lack of low frequency effects, the LFE channel is certainly not missed in the dts soundtrack.

    The score is melodic, orchestral and traditional Japanese in flavour, building to an exquisite rage in the film's second half. This is a highly memorable, perfectly moving score that compliments the film superbly.

    The LFE channel present in the Dolby Digital default only really springs to life during a thunder clap at 80:57. Otherwise, there isn't really a lot of work for the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Teaser Trailers (2)

    Two brief, thirty-second trailers presented with English subs and 16x9 enhancement.

Theatrical Trailer (1:43)

    The Japanese theatrical trailer is presented here without 16x9 enhancement.

Gallery-Stills (10)

    Ten individual stills captured from the film, covering each of the main characters.

Madman Trailers (4)

    Trailers are included for Madman releases Zatoichi at Large, Rashomon, The Myth and Incident at Blood Pass.

Reversible Cover Slick

    The other side of the slick has identical artwork but is void of ratings logos.

• Swordplay Documentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Postcards and Booklets
• Audio Commentary
• Interviews
• Making-Of

    With its fantastic dts audio option, I believe ours is a great package for English speakers.

    You may be interested to know that all three films in Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy have been released in Japan on the HD DVD format. Unfortunately, they do not include English subtitles. My message to Madman; if you are considering throwing your hat in the proverbial HD ring, local renditions of these films on HD DVD would be a great place to start.

    The video transfer is great.

    The audio transfer is very good.

    A couple of small extras are included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall