Shōgun (2024) Cre: Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks
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Critic and audience consensus has placed this Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks created historical drama as one of the best shows of the year. It's based on the book by James Clavell, which itself was inspired by true events. I knew loosely the true story behind the series, but was very keen to see how good the show would be.
I thought the cinematography of the show was pretty impressive, if not without its faults. Despite some excellent visuals, there was the occasional shot or piece of editing which was certainly suspect. The practical effects, on the other hand, were genuinely exemplary.
I appreciated the clear efforts to make the show as authentic as it could be reasonably expected. The costume design was sublime from top to bottom. I found myself loving so many of the outfits, particularly of the women, whose elegant attires were stunning. Everything certainly fit the aesthetic of feudal Japan.
The story was full of political intrigue, high stakes, cultural divides and intense emotions. The way the narrative twisted its way from source to mouth like a tightly winding river was incredibly enthralling - I thought some of the twists were executed very effectively, providing a series of major shocks as the series progressed.
What I will say, there were one or two narrative choices that I wasn't so keen on, but they weren't major issues to me, just moments that I was less sure I liked. I found the climactic moments a little bit underwhelming too, but then, they make sense enough in the context of the show.
Hiroyuki Sanada played the role of cunning old samurai to perfection. He had a subtle charisma that followed his every move, and a grace and presence which fitted his figurehead role very nicely. It was an excellent performance.
I had pretty mixed feelings about Cosmo Jarvis, in all honesty. He felt a little like a discount Tom Hardy at times, in the way he spoke and acted. I will clarify, I didn't dislike him or his performance, it was just hard to ignore. He almost appeared to he parodying the man at points. That said, he had some beautifully sincere and emotional scenes, which impressed me greatly.
Anna Sawai shone brightest of all in this series. She was magnificent. Her elegance, poise, emotion and composure was both impressive and befitting of her role. I found her character fascinating, and her acting was a huge factor in that.
There were some real standouts in the supporting cast. Tadanobu Asano played his canny, slightly comedic role very entertainingly, while Takehiro Hira, Tommy Bastow and Fumi Nikaido each had some very strong scenes, particularly Bastow, who fit his role superbly.
With so many names, I can't go into detail on them all, but I will give mentions to a few that I felt warranted it; Moeka Hoshi, Yuki Kura, Yuka Kouri and Néstor Carbonell.
Overall, I found this to be an excellent limited series, which captured the honour, the danger, the stakes and the conflict of a fascinating and formative time in Japanese history. It has a couple of little issues, but those aside, I thought it was phenomenal. Furthermore, it's definitely convinced me to read the book in the future.
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