The word, Samurai, has a strange appeal to Western audiences: even Tom Cruise played a Samurai. Now, genius Japanese director and comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi has made a Samurai comedy. In the film, the Samurai can’t remember where he puts his sword, so he runs around with an empty scabbard. Captured by an enemy lord, he must earn his freedom and make the lord’s unsmiling son laugh within 30 days. Unlike his two previous avant-garde films, this is a straight comedy. It does, however, feature his peculiar narrative and double frames. With only TV soap opera adaptations certain box office hits Matsumoto′s peculiarity must certainly be of value; for this reason, some people would like to see [Scabbed Samurai] establish where the director is coming from. Is he appearing symbolically as the empty scabbard in the film? And in casting himself as the comic Samurai, what is he asking of his audience? (Shion YANG)