A samurai gets struck by lightning during the Shōgun era and wakes up on 21st century film set. There’s your premise. To complicate matters, Kyoichiro Kazami (Norimasa Fuke), awakens to the filming of a TV show about … wait for it … a samurai.
Well, gosh, if only we could find some way of getting authenticity into this shoot, huh?
Alternatively delightful and frustrating, A Samurai in Time spotlights the overlong adjustment of Kyoichiro into modern times. He doesn’t get anything. But it’s delightful to see how open he is to the idea that even commoners can eat cake in this century. I mean, how cool is that? Only the Shōgun was allowed to eat sugar in my day.
The big question in the film is how, of course, a samurai adjusts to life in the 21st century. The answer is: Samurai’in’! Turns out, there’s always an open market for samurai who battle on screen; one can make a decent living constantly dying at the hands of another while wearing a topknot and brandishing a katana. And our samurai friend is kinda endearing what with his not understanding film, modern gender politics, or any invention that post-dated the wheel. Whether or not I found this film enjoyable, I could not deny the people who made it found it enjoyable.
As the film progresses, the action gets more serious, and yet: do we take the serious seriously? I’m inclined not to as our 
protagonist has made very little headway into becoming a 21st century resident. It’s like he took his medieval life and made it into his 21st century profession. That’s cute, but hardly substantial.
A Samurai in Time is kind of a fun-nothing film, the exact opposite of what one usually finds at film festivals. I suppose it gets a little deeper when our hero discovers a legitimate foe, but it’s all superficial on some level. It’s like Marty McFly never getting back to 1985, just being stuck in 1955 forever. “Don’t jeopardize your future, Marty!” “What does it matter? I can’t go back.” That’s kinda how A Samurai in Time felt.
Once lived a medieval samurai
Who traveled through time on the fly
He found work on the set
Fighting dudes he just met
Once warrior, now an actor, big *sigh*
Not Rated, 131 Minutes
Director: Jun’ichi Yasuda
Writer: Jun’ichi Yasuda
Genre: Things that would be cool if they really happened
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Samurais
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Theoretical physicists
