KILLING

ZAN

By Shinya TSUKAMOTO

KARLOVY VARY INT'L FILM FESTIVAL - as FEST

Drama - Completed 2018

A new dimension of energetic samurai men

Festivals
& Awards

La Biennale di Venezia - Venice FF 2018
Competition
Toronto - TIFF 2018
Masters
busan 2018
Gala Presentation
Karlovy Vary IFF 2019
Horizons
    • Year of production
    • 2018
    • Genres
    • Drama
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Duration
    • 80 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Shinya TSUKAMOTO
    • Producer(s)
    • Shinya TSUKAMOTO
    • Synopsis
    • After about 250 years of peace in Japan, samurai warriors in the mid-19th century were impoverished. Consequently, many left their masters to become wandering ronin.
      Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is one such samurai. To maintain his swordsmanship skills, Mokunoshin spars daily with Ichisuke, a farmer's son. Ichisuke's sister Yu watches them train with a hint of disapproval although there's an unspoken attraction between her and Mokunoshin. While farm life is peaceful, there is monumental turmoil in Japan. The US Navy has sent Commodore Perry to Japan to insist that it trades with them. This in turn causes civil unrest. Yu is concerned as she senses that Mokunoshin will soon leave to join the impending civil war, and consequently die.
      One day the three of them come across two dueling samurai. The winner is Jirozaemon Sawamura, a mild-mannered yet skillful ronin. Sawamura stays in the village to look for other potential warriors when a group of outlaw ronin arrives. The villagers have heard terrifying rumors about the outlaw's leader, Sezaemon Genda. When the hot-blooded Ichisuke takes on the outlaws, the direction of their lives drastically changes.