Tatsuya Nakadai

You have to consider the stamina required from both the filmmakers and the audience.

The story focuses on a single man named Kaji, played brilliantly by Tatsuya Nakadai

Okay

He's an idealist, a socialist, and a pacifist.

The article actually praises the script's faultless understanding of what makes the original play timeless, capturing the truly nihilistic nature of war.

And it's anchored by Tatsuya Nakadai, who delivers what the author calls one of the best acting performances in film history.

So the raw, brutal themes of an aging leader losing his grip on his family are universal, and the samurai setting just amplifies that brutality.

Exactly.

It does still have Toshiro Mifune, who is just one of the greatest of all time.

Tatsuya Nakadai is in it.

Great.

Takashi Shimura.

Yeah, that's another thing that comes up in that interview is that for... for that role, uh, for the role of the professor Takashi, um, Kira Sharma says they interviewed every, uh, elderly Japanese, uh, actor basically.

Um, and specifically name checks Nakadai.

Uh, and they forewent, uh, Professionals.

Well, they didn't choose a non-professional.

I don't think that's how it happened in practice.

I think he's great in this role and is well-acted.

But you are right to say that, I think you are right to say that perhaps a more professional, well-known person like Nakadai might have given more pushback to the characterization than what we see happening.

Yeah, and there are like some serious, there are like noticeable problems.