Stranded on a desert island, a solitary samurai’s spirit crumbles – but defending himself against cannibals brings him back to life. Sword duels are placed in exciting and unexpected new contexts making beautiful use of spectacularly varied Indonesian scenery.
Rarely has a teaser line so succinctly spelled out a movie’s premise: “Samurai vs Cannibals”. And while that’s an accurate description of Lone Samurai’s initial hook, Josh C. Waller’s film takes viewers on a journey across genres that’s as fascinating as the title character’s increasingly hallucinatory odyssey. Washed up on an unknown island, samurai Riku (Shogen) is badly wounded and in despair, haunted by visions of his past happy family life in Japan. As he wanders through Indonesian forests, beaches, mountain landscapes and caves, an initially straightforward survival epic takes a gory turn when Riku encounters cannibals.
Lone Samurai doesn’t skimp on action against opponents including cult favourite Indonesian martial artists Yayan Ruhian (The Raid, 2011) and Rama Ramadhan. Continuing an exceptional run of contemporary genre cinema, the film both satisfies and continually resets expectations while pitting two different national martial arts traditions against each other.
– Vadim Rizov
Film details
- Countries of production
- USA, Portugal, Japan, Indonesia
- Year
- 2025
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2026
- Length
- 95'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
