People are voting emotionally.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The samurai of the title is a wild fellow, actor Pit Bukowski, who manages some odd jumps and even a nude scene complete with an erection, all with a maniacal smile on his face. It's not the kind of performance that is easy to watch or forget. The only American actors I can think of who have even approached this kind of crazed portrayal are the late Heath Ledger and the ubiquitous Woody Harrelson. Pit outdoes them both.The Samurai is on a killing spree threatened by a local cop, Jakob, well played by Michel Diercks. There is a sort of half-baked subplot with a wolf that doesn't really gel, but the main thrust of this movie is the story of a small town German cop having to deal with a man dressed as a woman, wielding a sword. I have no idea what transvestites will think of all this, they may like it, I don't know, but I think the two leads and the director, Till Klienert, have an impressive future in front of them.This movie would make a great one to show to adult friends prepared for some fairly campy horror and gore. It's definitely not for kids or for anyone not prepared for the short segment with male nudity near the end.

"Der Samurai" or "The Samurai" is a German movie from 2014, so two years old only, and it is a fairly short work as it runs for 75 minutes only and that already includes a fairly long sequence of credits. Writer and director is Till Kleinert and luckily this film here is not as bad as his gay-themed (fairly long) short film. But this does not mean much as that one was really a huge failure and it does not make this one here a good film. The title character is played by Pit Bukowski and he is probably known to German film buffs already know. His co-lead is Michel Diercks and the two play a samurai and the police officer who the samurai is somehow trying to recruit. But the police officer, at the same time, investigates the horrible crimes the samurai has been committing. Will he stand faithful in his profession or will he get impressed by the samurai's ideas? I know I did not get impressed by Kleinert's ideas unfortunately, even if the premise isn't all that bad. Eventually I was glad the film ran that shortly as from a dramatic and story-telling perspective, it felt fairly underwhelming for the most part. Also I just could not get used to the idea of a Caucasian samurai with long blonde hair, but that may be just me. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended.

I saw this film at the Imagine (sf/horror/fantasy) filmfestival Amsterdam 2014. The title may attract the wrong audience, but that is the only problem I have with this movie. It focuses on the Samurai sword that is carried all the time by the transvestite, who is the primary trigger of all events following. He and local policeman Jakob are the obvious main characters that carry the story from start to finish. But the sword is far from the lead weapon, due to very prominent roles of confusion, surprise and deviant behavior to augment the proceedings. The latter three story elements make it difficult to tell much about the story, fearing literally spoiling all the inherent fun of this movie.Nice are some interwoven plots. A perfect example is the motor gang, seemingly appearing in the beginning as a side issue. This group unexpectedly gets an important role later on, when grouping around the transvestite in an obvious attempt to mock him. Little do they know what disaster is before them. There is a second interwoven plot around Jakob's mother, but I better confine myself to hinting that it is useful to keep an eye on her too.All in all, very good entertainment full of unexpected events, perfectly capable to keep our attention throughout. In the Q&A we learned that it is "just" a master thesis project, still more reason to admire the end result. This film ended 23rd (out of 43) for the audience award, with average score 7.20.

I just saw this film at the Frightfest London, and it is certainly one of best films in this year's selection. Very interesting characters and a story that is captivating but remains unclear and unresolved in just the right way. Pit Bukowski starring in the title role as the "samurai" is one of the most enigmatic movie villains I have seen in a while. The director said that "The Hitcher" is one of his main influences and this certainly shows. So if you want to see a horror film with a little more substance that the average "Slasher Flick" seek this one out. I am amazed that this was done in Germany. The mostly state-financed film scene there normally creates a lot of "worthy" films that focus on social relevance above everything else. This film definitely brights some fresh air into German filmmaking and I hope it makes it into international distribution.