This Is All Very Kimyōna
Produced by Signature Entertainment and directed by Bernard Rose, Samurai Marathon is exactly what it sounds like:
Inspired by a real-life race that is still held annually in Japan, Samurai Marathon is an epic sword slasher.
In the late feudal era of Japan, a young ninja is operating undercover in the court of an aging Lord during a peaceful era of Japan that is on the brink of change.
After the Lord challenges his lazy samurais to a punishing marathon to toughen them up, the ninja finds his loyalties put to the test. Facing impossible odds, this unusual band of characters is running a race to win or die.
Even odder then the premise is that the picture is being brought to the screen by one of the producers of 13 Assassins, Toshiaki Nakazawa, as well as Jeremy Thomas, who won the Oscar back in 1988 for The Last Emperor.
Rose, whose main credits to this point include Candyman and a string of direct-to-video movies starring real talent like Carrie Ann Moss and Rhys Ifans, seems to be trying to make a no-frills, honest-to-goodness samurai movie.
Also, Philip Glass is doing the music.
The film itself has a great look to it:
Samurai running through bamboo forests never gets old, does it?
Now would be a good time to mention that the movie had twenty-seven producers.
Fortunately, twenty-four of them are Japanese so you are guaranteed to get a wholesome adventure story with no subversion or soapboxing.
Samurai Marathon will be available on VOD and hard media on January 20, 2020.
