Lord Murashige Araki, rejecting the violence inherent in the samurai code, takes leave of Nobunaga Oda, the great unifier of Japan. Murashige holes up in his castle with his faithful army, Nobunaga’s forces approaching to demand surrender. Against this backdrop, Kyoshi Kurosawa creates a story that takes place across four seasons, each one featuring a brutal murder and Murashige’s attempts to solve the crime, often relying on the castle’s key prisoner, a loyalist to Nobunaga. “Kurosawa has made one of his best films, a work that feels a bit like Agatha Christie, a bit like Shakespeare, and even a bit like Samurai Columbo” -Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com.