I have a feeling this would be my favorite samurai flick had I seen it before Samurai Rebellion. I was completely riveted and blown away. I’ve kind of come the conclusion that I must see as many Masaki Kobayashi films as I can get a hold of. Harakiri firmly moves into my number two all time favorite on my list. I think the many vs one sword fights we end up seeing in many films must be trying to emulate this. You also just have to love how this film is constructed switching from present to story telling and back. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous as well (just as in Samurai Rebellion). Hard not to love this anti-samurai samurai movie. Oh, and not showing us some of the fights but just letting us hear them to increase tension … genius!