Harakiri15

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi | Japan | 1964 | 2h 14m | Japanese w/ English subtitles | Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba, Masao Mishima

After the fall of his clan, masterless samurai Hanshirō arrives at the estate of Lord Iyi, asking permission to end his life through ritual suicide. The clan’s senior counsellor doubts the ronin’s sincerity, suspecting he’s simply looking for charity. But Hanshirō is not what he seems, and his quiet determination hides a deeper purpose. Masaki Kobayashi’s gripping period drama, winner of the Cannes Special Jury Prize, is a bold critique of hypocrisy, a stirring portrait of individual will, and is now hailed as one of the greatest achievements in Japanese cinema.

Classic Season: Samurai Summer

Reviews

‘It would be wrong for me to reveal the details of the story Tsugumo tells. What I can say is that it is heartbreaking.’
★★★★★
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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We showed Harakiri between July 28, 2025 and July 30, 2025.

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Today (Sunday 16th August)
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13:30

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19:30

The Summer Book PG
1h 35m
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Tomorrow (Monday 17th August)
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18:15

Jazz on a Summer's Day U
1h 23m
Bert Stern's 1958 concert film documents the Newport Jazz Festival, widely considered the first feature-length music documentary. It captures performances by Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson, forming a portrait of America on the cusp of the Kennedy era.

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20:30

Dead Man 18
2h
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Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!

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