I could include any number of samurai films on this list, including Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai or Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri. But Yôji Yamada’s gentle film about an unassuming warrior living in the final days of the samurai era is the one I think about the most. Low-ranking Seibei seeks neither glory nor honor but, rather, is content to live a humble life with his daughters. But that humble life is soon complicated, first by the arrival of an old lover and second by a mission to kill a clan rebel.

As you might expect from a samurai film, The Twilight Samurai features its fair share of duels, with Seibei — played by the great Hiroyuki Sanada, perhaps best known for his lead role in Shōgun — revealing himself to be a deadly combatant underneath his shabby appearance. Its real charm, however, stems from its quasi-documentary depiction of Seibei’s life, which gives the film an immediacy and undeniable poignancy.

Following The Twilight Samurai’s success — the film earned numerous accolades, including a dozen Japanese Academy Awards — Yamada directed two more samurai films: 2004’s The Hidden Blade and 2006’s Love and Honor.