Kurosawa Kiyoshi‘s “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section, has attracted distribution deals spanning multiple territories through sales agent Charades.
Distributed by Shochiku in Japan, the film has crossed JPY1.1 billion ($7.1 million) at the Japanese box office on 800,000 admissions.
Janus Films holds rights for the U.S. and Canada, where the film has grossed some $800,000. Charades has sold the film to Blue Finch Film for the U.K., I Wonder Pictures for Italy, Arthouse for France, Adso Films for Spain, Film4you for Portugal, Mars Films for Turkey and Cinemart for Czech Republic and Slovakia. Palace Entertainment holds rights for Australia and New Zealand. In Asia, Studio DHL has taken South Korea, Sky Digi Entertainment Taiwan, Singapore Film Society Singapore and Falcon Indonesia. Paradise MGN covers the Baltics and CIS, while MCF Megacom Film has taken Ex-Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Bofrato holds airline rights.
Adapted by Kurosawa from Yonezawa Honobu’s Naoki Prize-winning novel, “The Samurai and the Prisoner” is set during Japan’s Sengoku period and centers on Lord Araki Murashige (Motoki Masahiro), a warlord who rises against the ruthless Oda Nobunaga only to find himself besieged behind his own walls. As mysterious deaths shatter the order of his court, he forges an uneasy alliance with Kuroda Kanbei (Suda Masaki), a brilliant strategist held prisoner in the dungeon below – a man who may, in fact, hold all the real power.
Reviewing the film for Variety, Jessica Kiang wrote, “Kurosawa’s highly entertaining adaptation knows that just because you are chained does not make you a prisoner, any more than having wealth and power can reliably make you free.”