AllMovie

Take a trip back to the Tokugawa era for this tale of friendship and loyalty from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike. When Eiji is wrongly imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit, his bad luck takes a turn for the worse when he is sent to an Ishikawa workhouse to perform hard labor. As Eiji attempts to survive the physical and mental torments of his incarceration, his lifelong friend Sabu struggles in the outside to seek out the man who truly perpetrated the crime before the bleak realities of prison life drive Eiji to a point beyond recovery. Adapted from writer Shugoro Yamamoto's classic novel, this unforgettable tale of courage is sure to remain with viewers and offer a new perspective on director Miike's wildly varied filmography.