The Twilight Samurai (Region B, DVD)

Highly acclaimed Japanese historical drama set in the late 1800s about a low-ranking samurai, Seibei (Hiroyuki Sanada), who has been caring for his two adored daughters and his aging mother since the death of his wife. While his co-workers go out drinking at the end of the day, he heads straight home to his family, earning the nickname ‘Twilight Samurai’. A new chance of happiness appears to open up for Seibei when a long-ago childhood love, Tomoe, moves back to the area after fleeing her brutish husband. To defend her honour, Seibei challenges her husband to a duel – which he wins, despite being armed only with a sharpened stick. Seibei is then asked if he wants to marry Tomoe, with whom he is desperately in love, but, tragically, the Samurai code of honour and his shame about his poverty-stricken status force him to refuse her.