A great movie about the difference between the pretense of chivalry, and true honor. Between heartless social codes, and a willingness to give ones life for the things that truly matter.
This movie is best watched completely unspoiled, finding out the story as the characters do, do yourself a favor and just watch it without even reading a description.
Suffice to say it works as a great mystery-thriller, a slow but satisfying samurai slasher, as well as a damning conviction of Japanese WWII leadership and the militaristic pseudo-chivalry that guided it. It takes awhile to get there, but the samurai action at the end is the best I saw outside of a Kurosawa film. Its like the end of
Kill Bill volume 1, but with ten times more meaning behind the actions of the characters.
10/10