Laughing Under the Clouds (2018) Live action samurai fantasy

[whitesnake]

Laughing Under the Clouds (Donten ni Warau) is a new Japanese samurai film theatrically released there on March 21, 2018.  It is based on the Donten ni Warau manga series by Karakara-Kamui.  Plot - "In 1878, the Meiji Restoration occurred.  Because of this, the country faced many criminals, such as samurai rebelling against their fallen positions.  Many were arrested, but they soon broke out of their jail cells and rampaged across Japan.  Therefore, the government did their best to prevent this by building a giant prison in the middle of Lake Biwa.  [What! and ruin the potential for future tourism?]  However, to get these criminals to the prison, they needed a form of transport.  In this way, the Kumo brothers were given the responsibility to take these criminals to their final resting place."  (from Wikipedia)  The clunky plot summary from IMDB sounds like a completely different movie - "In the years after the imperial restoration in central Japan a forceful snake, which rears its head every 300 years, is about to rise again.  The snake shall herald calamity and catastrophe.  The three successors to the local shrine [the Kumo Brothers] ally with other forces to block the serpentine.  The snake has its own deadly and swift allies however who will do its bidding abetting its rise."

The director is Katsuyuki Motohiro (Psycho Pass: The Movie).  The cast includes Soto Fukushi (Blade of the Immortal, Bleach, As the Gods Will), Yuma Nakayama, and Kirato Wakayama.  An anime TV series (2014 - 2015) was also based on the manga. 

Here's a trailer with English subtitles.  Note the references to Rurouni Kenshin and Gintama at the start at the trailer.