JFTFP25: A Samurai in Time (12)

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JFTFP25: A Samurai in Time (12)

Thursday 6th March

Original title: 侍タイムスリッパー (Samurai Time Slipper)

Dir. YASUDA Junichi, Japan, 2024, 131 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. YAMAGUCHI Makiya, FUKE Norimasa, SAKURA Yuno. .

As the Edo period wanes in the mid-19th century, samurai KOSAKA Shinzaemon (YAMAGUCHI Makiya) draws his blade against his rival on the streets of Kyoto. But as the fight begins, sudden lightning strikes… and when Shinzaemon awakens, something is different. He’s been sent forward through time onto the set of a 21st-century period drama!

He is lost, afraid and alone in a familiar-yet-unfamiliar world, but assistant director Yuko (SAKURA Yuno) soon finds something for him to do: his skill with the sword makes him a perfect candidate for an extra in their TV show. So Shinzaemon begins a new life as a kirareyaku, an actor specialising in pretending to die in battle, and slowly finds his way forward in his strange new reality.

A Samurai in Time is a smart, crowd-pleasing comedy centring around a man with a great sense of obligation, and more: behind the laughs, it expertly blends thoughtful character study, sharp cultural observations and a heartfelt tribute to the declining jidaigeki (period drama) industry.

Image credits: ©MIRAIEIGASHA

Dates & Times

 Thursday 6th Mar  8:00pm
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The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025

Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema.

Season Pass: Get a discount (each ticket for £7) when you book tickets for the 4 films in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme at the same time.

A Samurai in Time – Thursday 6 March, 8pm
Broken Commandment – Thursday 13 March, 6pm
Let’s Go Karaoke! – Thursday 20 March, 8.30pm
All the Long Nights – Thursday 27 March, 6pm

The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP), is back for its latest and greatest instalment!

In a world where injustice runs rampant, cinematic expressions of justice seem inexhaustible: time and time again, heroic protagonists fend off malicious antagonists or enact their revenge, the constant injustices they face mirroring audiences’ own. Japan is no exception to this, and the JFTFP25 promises to showcase how Japanese filmmakers use the language of cinema to explore the concepts of criminal, social, and moral justice, along with the ways people respond to external judgement. Featuring everything from thought-provoking hidden gems to laugh-a-minute entertainment, UK audiences are invited to join us in questioning the very concepts of justice, justification, and judgement against today’s backdrop of ever-changing values and perspectives.

Co-presented by: The Japan Foundation
Major Supporter: The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Sponsors in Kind: Athletia, Calbee, Clearspring, Pentel, SUQQU

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