What It's About:

When clan leader Rokugo (Tamba) orchestrates a senseless massacre that locals attribute to an angry spirit, heavyhearted samurai Magobei (Nakadai), shamed by his complicity in the murder-for-gold, chooses exile. Four years later, after fighting off assassins sent by Rokugo, the renegade ronin returns to his village after learning that a new atrocity has been planned.

Why I Love It:

Gosha's absorbing, stunningly visual, though little-seen samurai flick considers the requisite themes of honor, duty, and divided loyalties, but does so with dynamic visual flair and a not-so-subtle sense of outrage at bloodshed for personal or political gain. Kurosawa regular Nakadai plays Magobei with weary gravitas, and his fight scenes bear the mark of his character's indomitable virtue. Ruriko Asaoka is excellent, too, as a fallen woman who assists Magobei in his plan to thwart the cynical plan to enrich Rokugo's fiefdom. Sharpen your sense of justice with "Goyokin."