Unforgiven (2013 film)

Shortly after the start of the Meiji period, a former samurai under the Edo Shogunate, Jubei Kamata, flees from government forces on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Jubei kills his pursuers and disappears, but remains infamous as "Jubei the Killer".

Years later, in a frontier town, a pair of brothers, Sanosuke and Unosuke Hotta, disfigure a prostitute while visiting the brothel. The town's senior lawman, Ichizo Oishi, lets the brothers go with only minor chastisement instead of dispatching them to Sapporo to face justice. The other prostitutes pool their money to put a bounty on the two brothers. This draws several men, including Kingo Baba, a former comrade of Jubei's. Another bounty hunter, Masaharu Kitaoji, arrives with a young writer who believes Kitaoji is a great warrior. Armed with swords, Kitaoji draws the attention of Oishi, who demands he hand over his weapons as they are banned in the town. Confronted by lawmen with firearms, Kitaoji has to accept, but is then beaten and humiliated by Oishi. The following day, Oishi throws him out of the town, but the writer, Himeji, stays behind to write about Oishi instead.

Kingo tracks Jubei down to a small farm where he lives in poverty with his two children. Although reluctant, Kingo convinces Jubei to help him earn the bounty so he can provide for his family. On the way, they are joined by Goro Sawada, a brash young half-Ainu man who claims to have killed five men already. When the trio arrive at the town, Oishi finds and recognises Jubei at the inn. He taunts, beats, and scars Jubei, but doesn't kill him. Kingo and Goro are upstairs with the prostitutes and escape unharmed. After recuperating with the help of the prostitutes, the three men track down one of their targets and kill him. Jubei delivers the killing blow after Kingo is unable to do so himself. After this, Kingo admits that he doesn't have the stomach for killing any longer. Handing Jubei his rifle, he leaves the other two men to collect the bounty. Jubei and Goro return to the town to kill the second target. Jubei sends Goro in to kill the man while he uses an outhouse. After a scuffle in which Goro is unable to get a fatal shot with his pistol, he stabs the man with an Ainu knife, an experience that traumatizes him as he has never actually taken a life before. Although Jubei and Goro escape, the police are able to track down Kingo, who is killed after a night of torture.

Jubei learns of his friend's death when the scarred prostitute, Natsume, delivers the bounty. Sober for years, he drinks the last of Goro's liquor and returns to the town to exact revenge. Before he leaves, he orders Goro and Natsume to deliver his share of the bounty to his children and look after them. Jubei returns to the inn and a battle ensues between him, Oishi, and the posse Oishi had put together to hunt down Jubei and Goro. Despite being wounded several times, Jubei is able to kill Oishi and several of his men, and the survivors flee. He orders Himeji, who witnessed the battle, to write about what he saw. However, Jubei knows that the Japanese authorities would be particularly harsh if they found out that Goro, who is half-Ainu, had been involved in the killing of two Japanese men. He therefore demands that Himeji leave Goro out of the account, ensuring that he alone will carry the blame for killing Oishi and the brothers.

Having returned to Jubei's farm, Natsume explains how she might be willing to settle down there with Goro, looking after Jubei's children. She is hopeful that one day, Jubei might return. He is last seen walking alone in the snow, somewhere in Hokkaido.

• Ken Watanabe as Jubei Kamata
• Kōichi Satō as Ichizo Oishi
• Akira Emoto as Kingo Baba
• Yūya Yagira as Goro Sawada
• Shiori Kutsuna as Natsume
• Eiko Koike as Okaji
• Jun Kunimura as Masaharu Kitaoji
• Yukiyoshi Ozawa as Sanosuke Hotta
• Takahiro Miura as Unosuke Hotta
• Kenichi Takitō as Yasaburo Himeji
• Yoshimasa Kondo as Kihachi
• Go Jibiki as Hirata

Filming took place between mid-September to late November 2012. All filming took place in Hokkaido, Japan.

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Unforgiven at IMDb