When the Last Sword Is Drawn

When the Last Sword Is Drawn is set in Japan in the 1860s, as the long rule of the shogunate is coming to an end and the role of the samurai is changing with it. Kanichiro Yoshimura is a low-ranking samurai who cannot support his wife and children on what his small clan pays him. Out of love for his family, he leaves his home and joins the Shinsengumi, the force assembled in Kyoto from masterless warriors to keep order. The move sets him against the loyalties he was raised to keep, and his story is recalled years later through the memories of those who knew him. The film is directed by Yojiro Takita from a screenplay by Takehiro Nakajima. It stands between the early genre work he made from 1984 onward and Departures, which followed in 2008. Kiichi Nakai plays Kanichiro, with Koichi Sato as Hajime Saito, Yui Natsukawa, Takehiro Murata, Miki Nakatani and Yuji Miyake in supporting roles. Made for about 4 million USD, it took roughly 2 million USD at the box office. On IMDb it holds 7.4 from around 5,600 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 from about 123 votes, indicating a small but consistent audience.