The Hidden Blade Directed by Yoji Yamada 6 p.m. today , 7 p.m. tomorrow , Walter Reade Theater Yoji Yamada 's leisurely historical epic '' The Hidden Blade , '' set in mid-19th-century Japan , is a well-paced elegy to the samurai era that suggests a low-key Japanese answer to '' The Last Samurai , '' which was set around the same period .