大约三百年前的元禄十五年（1702年），第五代将军网吉实行安民政策，百姓生活平稳。年轻的武士青木宗左卫门（冈田准一饰）为了寻找杀父仇人金泽十兵卫（浅野忠信饰）远离家乡，从信州来到了江户。但他剑术差矣，实际上根本无法完成报仇。宗左卫门在一间破旧的小屋中落脚，开了家小私塾糊口度日，宗左卫门对住在对门的美貌寡妇纱枝（宫泽理惠饰）情愫暗生。后来宗左找到了金泽，然而仇人已经放下了杀人的刀，与妻儿过着普通的日子，宗左开始思考复仇究竟意味着什么。另一边，赤穗藩的武士来到这一带潜伏，伺机为含冤切腹的领主报仇。都是为了复仇的他们，会得到什么结局呢？

武林名家梅念笙獲得秘典「神照經」及可以成為天下第一巨富的「連城訣」，惹來徒兒萬震山、言遠平、戚長發追殺，梅遂將「神照經」及「連城訣」傳給救其性命的丁典（白彪）。丁與知府凌退思（岳華）的女兒霜華（施思）相戀，凌為奪「神照經」及「連城訣」，將丁打下牢獄，要丁說出秘密。狄雲（吳元俊）與師妹戚芳（廖麗玲）相戀，竟被陷害打下牢獄。死囚獄中，狄認識丁，更被傳授「神照功」。凌為了要獲得秘密，竟狠心對女兒下毒手，丁憤然與狄越獄，結果被毒死，而「連城訣」竟然在……

生命垂危的黑帮人叻君（吴镇宇 饰）讲述了他被出卖被背叛的一生：曾经天真的他被骗入黑社会，投身于无良黑帮大佬的门下，被朋友出卖，惹来了不少麻烦。叻君终于弃暗投明，来到大佬天生的帮派中间，却还是被朋友、情人相继背叛。叻君与大佬反目，逃亡日本娶妻生子，不料杀手团把已有身孕的妻子残忍杀掉。于是，今日的叻君之所以凶残无人性，皆因这一系列逼上梁山的遭际，是命运把他逼到绝境。当垂死的叻君从死神中挣脱回来时，他的叙述，有了一百八十度的转变：他天生残暴，每次作恶多端后都能大难不死，用为人不齿的手段和作风在江湖上混，他是个贱到十足的人渣，没有半丁点值得怜悯的地方。

In his bold, poetic approach, Clu Gulager manages to pack a decade's worth of experimentation into a fast, economical 20 minutes. Images dissolve and bleed into one another, freeze-frame and turn into paintings. Gulager also utilizes different camera speeds and even (and this is something I haven't seen before) the grain of the film to achieve his effects. Laszlo Kovacs' sun bleached photography helps immeasurably in streamlining such techniques into a powerfully eccentric, disturbingly compelling narrative. Far from pretentious (the word I'd use to describe most "experimental" films from the late sixties), this film comes off both as a celebration of childhood innocence and an uncompromising examination of its darkest extremes. And furthermore, Gulager and Kovacs achieve what may be the most unsettling final freeze frame ever.