Kosaka (Makiya Yameguchi) is a samurai in the late Edo period and is doing his job of fighting his superiors' foes when a lightning storm interrupts his swordwork. Knocked out, he wakes up to find himself in what looks like the same Kyoto in the same period, but then he starts to see people dressed in strange clothes and odd items all around him - the storm has projected him 140 years into the future and it is just his luck that he happens to find himself on the set of a jidaigeki (period drama) television series! Although this particular style of TV is dying out, there are still a few last gasps left, and the production company is always in need of stunt swordsmen, especially if they're adept at (choreographed) fighting and dying in cinematic ways....
This film is perhaps my favourite of those I've seen at Montreal's Fantasia Festival this year. It is by turns funny and violent (you never saw so many gruesome deaths by sword that made you laugh out loud), but there's a real heart to the story too - an early scene, where Kosaka sees a television show of the jidaigeki he turned up in, has the samurai moved to tears, and of course there's a love interest (that's not overplayed, yay!). There are several twists and turns that were completely unexpected, and the denouement is just.... wonderful. Definitely a good time to be had, and well worth searching out; recommended!
