The Samurai and the Prisoner at the Duke Screen Society

We enjoyed this film at the Chelsea under Gabor's fearless leadership so we are going to take advantage to see it again (for free) given the complexity of its plot and multiple (mostly historical) characters.

(Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2026, 147 min, Japan, Japanese with English subtitles, DCP)
-- Introduced by Prof. Simon Partner (History)
An Official Selection of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s enthralling adaptation of Yonezawa Honobu’s prize-winning novel is his first foray into jidaigeki, blending samurai cinema with the murder mystery genre. Kurosawa shows his mastery of the cinematic craft by navigating the novel’s dense narrative with a confident hand, slowly pulling in the audience with an absorbing moral contemplation on the nature of war, and a variation on a familiar genre that is both classical and radical.
The story follows Lord Murashige Araki (Motoki), who, after rising up against the tyrannical warlord Nobunaga Oda, finds himself besieged within his own Arioka Castle. As Oda’s army closes in from outside, a young samurai is murdered within the castle walls, triggering a series of bizarre incidents that throw the fortress into paranoia and suspicion. With traitors potentially among his most trusted retainers, Murashige is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kanbei Kuroda (Suda), a brilliant but dangerous strategist held prisoner in his own dungeon. With the support of his wife Chiyoho (Yoshitaka), Murashige races to uncover the truth before the castle falls.

https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/screensociety/screenings/samurai-and-prisoner-kokurojokiyoshi-kurosawa-2026
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39602215

Let's gather 15 min before the show (which starts at 19:00) in front of the theater.

Group discussion will follow in the Rubenstein lobby or, if there is enough interest, at some downtown location nearby.