Veteran helmer Yoji Yamada smoothly trumps his previous "The Twilight Samurai" (2002) with "The Hidden Blade," another deft dovetailing of stories by Shuhei Fujisawa. With interest high, this ...

Yamada Shūhei. Specially appointed professor, J. F. Oberlin University. Born in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1968. Graduated from Waseda University and received his EMBA from Peking University.

YOJI YAMADA brings his trilogy of pictures based on stories by Shuhei Fujisawa to a successful conclusion with this engrossing fusion of soap opera and samurai drama, writes Donald Clarke. The ...