Unforgiven

is a 2013 Japanese jidaigeki Western film written and directed by Lee Sang-il. It is a remake of Clint Eastwood's 1992 western Unforgiven, written by David Peoples. The film was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film also made its US debut as the opening film for LA EigaFest 2013. It was also presented in 2014 in the Palm Springs International Film Festival (World Cinema Now category) and out of competition in the 70th Venice International Film Festival. The plot closely follows the original 1992 film, but shifts the setting to Japan's Hokkaido frontier during the early Meiji period. Jubei Kamata (Ken Watanabe), a former samurai, is approached by an old associate to help claim the bounty on two men who have disfigured a prostitute. Plot Shortly after the start of the Meiji period, Jubei Kamata, a former samurai under the Tokugawa Shogunate who fought against the Imperial government, flees from Imperial cavalrymen on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Jubei kills his pursuers and disappears but remains infamous as "Jubei the Killer". Years later, in an unnamed frontier town, a pair of brothers, Sanosuke and Unosuke Hotta, beat and disfigure a prostitute while visiting the brothel. The town's senior lawman, an ex-samurai named Ichizo Oishi, lets the brothers go with only minor chastisement and a fine 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 in several men, including Kingo Baba, a former comrade of Jubei's. Another bounty hunter, Masaharu Kitaoji, arrives with a young writer who believes him to be an honorable warrior. Kitaoji draws the attention of Oishi, who demands he hand over his swords as they are banned in the town. Confronted by armed lawmen, Kitaoji has to accept, but is then beaten and humiliated by Oishi. The following day, Oishi sends him away, but the writer, Himeji, stays behind to write about Oishi instead when he reveals the truth about Kitaoji.