Friday, 3 April 2026 at 9 pm
Throughout April, Tuškanac Visiting features eight films by Masahiro Shinoda, one of the key figures of the Japanese New Wave.
Assassination
Cast: Tetsuro Tamba, Shima Iwashita, Eitaro Ozawa
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Screenplay: Nobuo Yamada
JP • 1964 • 104' • feature • drama
In the mid-19th century, American warships arrive in previously isolated Japan, disrupting the country’s political balance. Japan becomes divided between the more liberal shogunate, which seeks to open the country to the West and adopt new technologies, and conservative imperial loyalists who oppose foreign influence.
Opposing the shogunate is Hachiro Kiyokawa, a former peasant turned ronin - a masterless, wandering samurai - who has been arrested for the murder of a detective in the shogunate’s service. Unexpectedly, Kiyokawa is pardoned on the condition that he organise a group of ronin to fight against the emperor’s supporters. He accepts the offer, but the shogunate remains wary of his loyalty and secretly plans to eliminate him should he turn against them.