A penniless samurai arrives at a feudal lord's estate and asks permission to commit ritual suicide. Then he starts telling a devastating story that takes apart the clan's myth of honor from the inside, piece by piece. The film is about the hypocrisy of institutions and the violence hidden under codes of duty.
Harakiri is a 1962 action and drama film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Grand Budapest Hotel uses several of the same techniques.
Wrapping the story inside another story that turns out to be a trap or a deception. The listener, or you as the viewer, gets locked into the teller's version before realizing what it is for.
How this film uses it
When Hanshiro arrives, he looks like he needs something from the clan. As a matter of fact, the story he tells slowly in flashback is a case against them. Each new detail tightens the net around the clan's honor. In the end, they understand they have been listening to the charges against themselves.
Where to see it
The moment the clan realizes Hanshiro's story is about them. The trap has closed.
Moving the film at the slow, deliberate pace of a ritual, with long takes, few cuts and unhurried camera moves. The patience builds dread and gives each step the weight of a ceremony.
How this film uses it
Kobayashi holds his shots far longer than is comfortable. The hardest sequence to watch is the forced suicide with a bamboo blade. It is filmed slowly, like a ceremony, and there are no cuts to let you escape. That slowness is where the horror comes from.
Where to see it
The bamboo blade sequence. It is held for a long time with very few cuts, and the length makes the ceremony unbearable.
Building the story around an institution's code of honor, often a military one, and showing the gap between what it claims and what it does. The code ends up protecting power.
How this film uses it
The film shows that the Iyi clan's bushido, the samurai code of honor, is all for show. They punish a desperate young man for dishonoring a ceremony that they themselves treat as theater. Kobayashi's argument is that honor codes exist to serve whoever has the power to enforce them.
Where to see it
The forced suicide of Motome. The clan enforces a code that it does not follow itself.
Placing characters with care inside a wide frame that is mostly empty space. The emptiness makes them look small, isolated or boxed in by the place around them.
How this film uses it
Yoshio Miyajima's camera puts Hanshiro in the middle of a wide, formally arranged hall, with empty distance all around him. The room shows you the clan's power before anyone speaks. As Hanshiro's story goes on, the space feels more and more tense with what is being held back.
Where to see it
The hall of the Iyi clan. Hanshiro sits at the center of a strict, geometric room built to show power.
Questions
Harakiri: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Harakiri use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Harakiri (1962): Frame Narrative as Trap, Ceremonial Pacing, Institutional Honor Critique and Minimalist Widescreen Staging.
Who directed Harakiri?
Masaki Kobayashi directed Harakiri, released in 1962. CineCode also covers Kwaidan (1965).
What films are similar to Harakiri?
Films that share techniques with Harakiri include The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Kwaidan (1965), Amadeus (1984), Stalker (1979).
