Yoro no Tsuzumi

1701: After a year of compulsory stay in Edo (the name of Tokyo until the Meiji Restoration in 1868), Hikokuro (Rentaro Mikuni), vassal of a prince, returns home. There he finds his wife Otane (impressively nuanced: Ineko Arima) strangely reserved. The members of his household are nervous, samurais whisper behind his back. When he learns of his wife's alleged infidelity, he doesn't believe the rumors. The convened family council also acquitted her. But then Otane confesses adultery, to which the samurai's brutal moral code only has one answer. In an elaborate flashback structure, repeatedly rhythmized by the fascinating playing of a drummer and his student, Imai deciphers the harsh family dynamics that perpetuate and thus establish the oppressive feudal system. (mg)