To me, this movie is perfection.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Goyokin" is passionate, poetic, beautiful, colorful, thrilling, and brilliantly-filmed. It would be an understatement to say that "Goyokin" is one of the best-looking films I've seen in a long time. Hideo Gosha is one of the most under-appreciated Japanese directors and I say this purely on the strength of this one film because it is a true masterpiece."Goyokin" has a sense of theatricality about it that fits better than even many of Kurosawa's films. "Rashomon" for instance features performances completely unsuitable for the film's general mood (in my opinion), but in "Goyokin" the nature of the film fits perfectly with the mood and atmosphere Gosha creates. It's almost operatic in many ways, most noticeably so in the exquisitely-filmed sword fighting scenes. The story itself is also fitting of an Opera or an ancient Greek or Roman tragedy. In the tradition of many chambara films the film is reminiscent in sensibility to a revisionist Western, which can either come off as interesting or forced and in this case reminded me of some of the great American and Italian Westerns that came after the genre's popularity started dying.Gosha's work here is spectacular. The selection of shots and his coordination with the camera operator are brilliant. The cinematography by Kozo Okazaki displays a fine and mature understanding of the mechanics of photography for film and captures the landscape of the film brilliantly. All the acting is good but Tatsuya Nakadai is truly memorable in the lead role.I find it exceptionally hard to write extensively about movies I truly love because I find it hard to articulate my thoughts. I'm not sure I have much to say about this film since it struck me on such an emotional level and because it only matters that it is a passionate, poetic, and stunningly well-filmed movie that stands as my favorite movie in the genre quite easily and has immediately become one of my all-time favorites.10/10

Goyokin is a hauntingly beautiful story of a Magobei Wakazaka a samurai turned to a drunk guilt ridden ronin after taking part in the slaughter of some innocent people because he was following orders from his brother in law in a plot to steal some official gold (Goyokin). When his brother in law decides to steal more gold and kill more people some assassins come for Magobei to silence him forever. This causes Magobei to throw down the bottle of sake and take up the sword once again. He decides to journey back to stop the slaughter and seek redemption.Gosha tells the classic story of a samurai and his giri-ninjo conflict, that is his struggle against following orders which is the way of the samurai, or doing what he believes is right. He uses his trademark crows as symbolic supernatural supervisors of karma and in such a way it eerily beautiful and unforgettable.

I saw this film in the late 1970s. It was called "Goyekin - The Emperor's Gold". As I watched our guilt-ridden hero return to fulfill his promise, really a threat, to punish his family if they repeated their crime. I still see the image of him striding along the beach with a conical hat pulled low. The shadow on his face made his eyes glow under the hat and the shot was taken with a telephoto through wispy beach grass. Completely memorable. Then the scene in the forest with the horsemen riding through. It looked like an ancient Japanese painting with hazy colors and an other-worldliness that was amazing. Then the concluding duel in the snow. Two brilliantly attired samurai dueling in a pure white, glistening environment. So many great images from one film!The film itself is a pretty typical revenge film with some twists. When Tom Laughlin tried to redo it as a Mexican western,"The Master Gunfighter", it just fell flat. But the samurai movie has an entertaining plot and good action characters with beautiful settings. I think this film is a special case of cinematographic excellence. See it and enjoy the beauty.

Yet another samurai film...seems like 80% of all Japanese films are samurai films. Anyway, this one, Goyokin, is one of the best and should not be missed. Ok, the script and acting is not Kurasawa quality, but what really makes this movie special is it's beauty. The artistic way it is filmed. The colors...This is probably the most beautiful film I have ever seen. The plot is pretty good too as well as the intro. The only real letdown is the main character, the hero, who is not as cool as Toshirô Mifune. And he's also too much of a superman. 9 out of 10.