Saw the reviews and gave it a try...and I loved this film. This is one of my current favorites. The main actors did a great job - its believable that the main actor was a real samurai. The story is good - with lots of down to earth and solid principals to follow. As I watched, I did wonder how the ending would be - and though I'm a sucker for happy endings, I wasn't left feeling too upset, though it would have been nice if we had a better one.