Nostalgia Kinky

An ambitious and audacious cultural takedown, Tadashi Imai’s Cruel Tale of Bushido (1963) is a uniquely unforgettable film now available from Eureka as a special edition Blu-ray. Starring a remarkable Kinnosuke Nakamura playing a staggering seven different characters, Cruel Tale of Bushido is a supremely surprising work that’s as brutal as it is finally moving.

Cruel Tale of Bushido tells the story of a family through generations, all cursed by the same blind obedience to authority. No matter the century, this inability to say no to a higher-up recurs, often leading to horrible, even deadly, consequences. The film opens with a mysterious modern-day suicide attempt, unexplained til the conclusion. In the two hours in between, Imai takes the audience through an often grueling, even unpleasant, journey shown in often shocking ways for a 1963 production.

With its lengthy running time and EPIC scope, it isn’t surprising that Cruel Tale of Bushido has a large ensemble cast. What is surprising is just how much the film is controlled by just one actor, no matter how unrecognizable they are from reel to reel. Nakamura’s many characters span the gamut from the young to the elderly, and he is utterly convincing no matter the guise. It is an impressive performance.

Just as impressive is Imai’s unwillingness to soften his film in the slightest. Cruel Tale of Bushido is a hard watch, and I mean that as a compliment. With its eerie jazz-based score, icy black and white cinematography, and Imai’s elegant but forceful direction, Cruel Tale of Bushido is stylistically a tremendous work, but a difficult one nonetheless.

Audiences in 1963 who saw Cruel Tale of Bushido uncut no doubt left the theater in shock. After all, this is a film showing abuse in all forms to literal human-slavery. Imai drives home his point about the dangers of blind allegiance in darkly startling ways, like he’s hammering a nail into a steel wall. By the time of the film’s final devastating moment, featuring eerie images of businessmen on their way to the office, all of Imai’s efforts have paid off. Despite any cultural differences, the director’s warning against bending the knee and licking the boot is universal.

Eureka has delivered a fine edition of Cruel Tale of Bushido. Packaged with a slipcover, a booklet, informative extras, and an excellent new 4K restoration direct from Toei. For the extras, we get three film historians discussing the film in their individual contributions. We get a video interview with Tony Rayns, a written essay from Hayley Scanlon, and a video essay by Jonathan Clements. These all add much historical context to the film, while also providing many details regarding the cast, crew, and Japanese film in this period.
A difficult but rewarding watch, Eureka has done an excellent job bringing this undervalued 1963 film to disc.

-Jeremy Richey, March 2026-

Order Cruel Tale of Bushido direct from Eureka or here in the States from MVD.