A Samurai in Time (2023) (2025)

Popular reviews

• Review by Deathy ★★★★

  Score : 8.2/10 ✅

  Seen at Fantasia International Film Festival 2024

  Specific genres don't last forever. I wish it wasn't a thing, but the reality is that East Asian nations are making fewer Jidaigeki films than before, mirroring the way Americans do fewer Westerns. Perhaps everything in life has an expiration date, but it's sad to realize that movies that shaped the industry are now less funded than before.

  Asking for more Samurai films is a valid question. Receiving a Samurai film that ingeniously combines not just two but three genres is a valid answer to reignite the Jidaigeki's interest. Rest assured, A Samurai in Time isn't just a concept put in a bottle and hoping that lightning will strike.…

• Review by Stephen Gillespie ★★★

  We’re covering Fantasia Festival 2024 on The STACKS. So, keep your ears on the podcast and your eyes on the website.

  Part of Junichi Yasuda's A Samurai in Time is a perceptive film about changing cultural values over time. We start in an expected past, an age of samurai we have come to know through Jidaigeki films (period films set before 1868 but predominantly the genre term used for samurai films). Samurai fight, it is two against one. One is dispatched and the two left over seem evenly matched. It's a compelling and well choreographed fight that is in keeping with the cinematic expectations of the samurai. Rain starts -- how very Kurosawa -- and the pair are now facing…

• Review by joakim dreams of peace ★★★½

  Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3024

  A Samurai in Time has the same spark that other Japanese indie darlings like One Cut of the Dead or Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes would, but I don't know if it quite matches the same energy level. as it is, it's more like a supernatural sequel to Extro – and hey, that's a-okay.

  the time travel flick is a guaranteed festival hit, and the funny moments certainly benefit from the crowd atmosphere. but imo, it's so cosy and gently paced that you could watch the film as a TV special, with ads and snack breaks and all that. completely comfortable. 😌

• Review by Roemer ★★★½ 2

  A good time if not a little long.

  Also, I too, get weepy over delicious desserts. He’s just like me fr.

  
  Watched for Anomaly Film Fest 2024 at The Little Theatre.

• Review by Movie Good or Movie Bad? ★★★½

  A fitting tribute to jidaigeki that reflects on their cultural impact, while also making peace with their potential extinction. A Samurai In Time consistently feels charming and light as we have our samurai ripped out of time onto the set of a samurai film. Filled with plenty of bits of situational comedy where our protagonist has to comedically overcome his challenges with the modern world, or minimally adapt to his misunderstandings, the film shifts tone in ways I didn’t expect and really made me long for this genre to get a resurgence. Stuntmen also received a fairly notable tribute within the film, but it’s biggest weakest is it feels overlong for a comedy stretching past the two hour mark. There is plenty to enjoy in the length of the film though.

  Hawai’i International Film Festival Film #11

• Review by Pauline ★★★½

  Premier cœur de cette édition de Fantasia et 100ème film de 2024 🧡

  Comédie aux accents burlesques qui rend un vibrant hommage au genre du jidaigeki, au cinéma tout entier et aux doublures de scènes de combat - coucou The Fall Guy (que j’ai bien aimé par ailleurs) avec 15 fois moins de budget mais potentiellement 15 fois plus d’âme.

  Les deux acteurs principaux étaient présents (ainsi que le réalisateur/scénariste) et en larmes au micro à la fin, juste à cause de nos réactions diverses et variées pendant la projection.
  C’est cool le cinéma 💖

• Review by KJR ★★★★

  Unwittingly stumbled upon my worst nightmare trying to get to the theatre: an inner west festival (I hate the company of people). Attending A Samurai in Time in a kimono seemed a bit excessive — but as a cultural, historiographical tradition, I’ll give it leeway. But attending this film in full anime attire is inexcusable! Some people have no shame. Has been my most eagerly anticipated movie for quite a while — even bought tickets to the film before they were made “publicly” available — so it felt nice to get this off my watch-list. Funny — would probably be funnier if I were more knowledgeable of Japanese TV/Jidaigeki, but I could still gauge their comedic intent (melodrama). Striking indictment…

• Review by IHaveBadMemory ★★★★½

  Fantasia #1 oat (and of hopefully many more)
  I really love the communal element of film. I adore NWH because it was an event (people cheered in a movie theater).
  This movie gave me that experience again. Sure, any film festival screening is communal but they don't always resonate with an audience like this one did. I was able to laugh wholeheartedly.
  I loved the movie as whole, despite its shaky start. It totally subverted my expectations and it was a wonderful love letter to jidaigeki. My favorite part was the final fight, specifically it's end.
  The music was a great comedic touch.

• Review by cock ★★★★★

  realistically, that little strawberry whipped cream cake should have killed him

• Review by Annie ★★★★½

  Another heartfelt tribute to jidaigeki and the unsung heroes of set extras/stuntmen, akin to Uzumasa Limelight, with a dash of history and time travel. Funny and endearing.

• Review by Brandon ★★★★

  You know his letterboxd account goes hard

• Review by Charlie ★★★½

  How to ask a girl out is no where in the bushido code