Twilight Samurai is a samurai movie that is as atypical as a samurai movie can get. For Twilight Samurai, that turns out to be good – and bad.

The good begins with Seibei, the “twilight samurai” himself. Drawing towards the end of the age of the samurai, one lower level officer Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada), gets the nickname “Twilight” because he always goes straight home after work instead of out drinking with the guys. I guess even samurai aren’t all that different after all. He goes home because his wife has died, and he must care for his two young daughters.

Seibei is easily likable because he’s so humble and good hearted. Most significantly, for a samurai with training in sword-fighting, he’s decidedly anti-violence. He believes very much in honor, but believes that kindness and understanding is more honorable than a dual to the death. It’s continually uplifting to see a man respond so honorably to constantly difficult situations.

While struggling to support the family with a low income, Seibei is reunited with a woman whom he admired in his youth. Seibei fears that she will not accept him for his income, then things get worse when he is called away to fight because of an uprising among the samurai. The way Seibei deals with each situation is often surprising, but truly heartening.

Unfortunately, Twilight Samurai takes too much time in telling its story. The narrative is heavily paced and verges on dragging. The slow, quite feel to the film fits well with its atmosphere, but it’s a bit too much atmosphere for me. The story structure, though certainly positive, is quite simple and only thematically engaging. Twilight Samurai is certainly a peaceful film, both in its content as well as its form. You’d be hard pressed to find another samurai film like that.