Samurai Marathon is an entertaining break from the streaming norm we are used to getting now. In a world where new content is about to really start slowing down, it might be about time to jump onto the subtitle bandwagon and see what else might be out there instead of scouring the dregs of Netflix.

Samurai Marathon desires to be placed among the ranks of impressive historical Japanese films that have come before it. The filmmakers were inspired by history and took a small moment of Japanese history and wrapped a samurai movie around it.

Yes, Bernard CANDYMAN Rose directed a Japanese-language samurai film. It's about a lord making his samurai run a 36-mile foot race to toughen them up, and the way various characters try to use this opportunity to achieve their dreams. I'll admit it: the way the different stories and the emotional arcs and the action *and the sporting event* all come together at the same time straight up made the tears start pouring. Other reviews seem pretty mixed, so maybe I'm a weirdo, but I think this movie is straight up beautiful. Maybe my favorite of last year.

This all-Japanese Jidaigeki samurai film is notable for a number of reasons - it is directed by an English filmmaker, Bernard Rose (who made 1994's Immortal Beloved with Gary Oldman & 1997's Anna Karenina with Bond girl Sophie Marceau), has a classical music score by legendary composer Phillip Glass (Truman Show, Kundun, The Illusionist) & Hollywood actor Danny Huston opening & bookending the film.

Samurai Marathon is a film that works so well placed right up against history that it is hard to tell the truth from the fiction, and that is how the filmmakers and audience like it. There is only so much drama one can get out of a marathon. Ever wonder why there are not a lot of running movies? No one has any time to just watch people running, no matter how beautiful the landscape is.

Taking the race as a jumping-off point, Director Bernard Rose of Candyman fame sculps a story that has as many peaks and valleys as the route he put his actors through. The twists and turns come often and make you wonder how many were needed to achieve a coherent story. Some minor character tropes and weird tonal shifts aside, Samurai Marathon is still worthwhile.

A producer asked Director Bernard Rose (CANDYMAN) if he wanted to make a Japanese film and Rose was like "Sure! Why not?" The end result is a SAMURAI MARATHON. It's finely made but plays like there are big chunks missing. By the time the marathon starts, it's pretty much already over because there are double-crosses and cheaters galore. Things are not helped by a typical Philip Glass score, who I assumed just picked a random CD of his work and said "Whatever. One's as good as the other. No one will now the difference."

The story is brutal! The crazy thirty-six mile chase which is the foundation of the story is embellished with treachery, betrayal, outrageous cheating and numerous decapitations, trust me you will love it!

As I mentioned, the film is dense at the start, as it sets up a lot of framing and context and multiple characters before settling into the narrative. In fact the opening segment (featuring Danny Huston as US Commodore Matthew Perry) is only indirectly tied to the plot, mostly serving as a preface placing the story in historical context: a time when western influence has introduced firearms to Japan, creating a sudden technological disparity and hailing the end of the samurai age with the innovation of instantaneous, convenient, long-range death.

It's really funny how social media advertising works? Since I recently purchased the new PS5 game: Rise of the Rōnin I have been served so many adds for this particular genre. Funny how that works right?
This movie came across my feed and I had to watch it, seemed natural because of activities mentioned moments ago...

When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.

Michael Beaulac Daniel Coupal Frdric Filiatrault Patrick Lemay-Hardy Frank Turcotte Alain Lachance Marie-Claude Lafontaine Nooreldin Reda Salama Thomas Lhomme-Sorel William Tayssier Rebecca Erbe Laurence Lavoie Sophie Fournier Marc A. Rousseau Maxime Lepage Shane Rowe Jeremy Beaulne Karine Lambert Vivianne Proulx Maria Beskorovayeva Leandro Marini Karine Ntihinyuka Yi Zhang Randy Santandrea Marc Cote David Dallaire Jean-Phillipe Lucas Julien Maisonneuve David Pomerleau Manmeet Singh Maciej Filas Sonia Marques Toby Martisius Jean-Franois Ferland Jeri Cruz Guillaume Boulay Michael R. Currie