13 Assassins (2010 film)

13 Assassins
The Japanese theatrical release poster of the film 13 Assassins
Original Japanese theatrical film poster
Directed byTakashi Miike
Screenplay byDaisuke Tengan
Story byShōichirō Ikemiya[1]
Based on13 Assassins
by Eiichi Kudo
Produced by
  • Michihiko Umezawa
  • Minami Ichikawa
  • Tôichirô Shiraishi
  • Kazuomi Suzaki
  • Hisashi Usui
  • Takahiro Ohno
  • Hirotsugu Yoshida
  • Shigeji Maeda
Starring
CinematographyNobuyasu Kita[1]
Edited byKenji Yamashita[1]
Music byKōji Endō
Production
companies
Distributed byToho (Japan)[2]
Artificial Eye (United Kingdom)[3][4]
Release dates
Running time
141 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom[1]
Japan[1]
LanguageJapanese
Budget$6 million[5]
Box office$17.5 million[6]

13 Assassins (Japanese: 十三人の刺客, Hepburn: Jūsannin no Shikaku) is a 2010 samurai film directed by Takashi Miike, and starring Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Sōsuke Takaoka, Hiroki Matsukata, Kazuki Namioka and Gorō Inagaki. A remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 Japanese period drama film 13 Assassins, it is set in 1844 toward the end of the Edo period in which a group of thirteen assassins—comprising twelve samurai and a hunter—secretly plot to assassinate Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, the murderous leader of the Akashi clan, to thwart his appointment to the powerful Shogunate Council.

The film marks the third collaboration in which Yamada and Takaoka co-starred, the first two being Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2, both directed by Miike. Principal photography took place over two months, from July to September 2009, in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, in northern Japan. The film opened in Japan on 25 September 2010 and in the United States on 29 April 2011. It received critical acclaim from western critics, who compared it favourably to Akira Kurosawa's oeuvre.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Jûsan-nin no shikaku (2011)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference thr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbfc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Blu-ray: 13 Assassins".
  5. ^ Cooper, Sarah (13 August 2009). "Shooting gets underway on Takashi Miike's Thirteen Assassins". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  6. ^ "13 Assassins (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.