Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike is making a samurai film that he hopes will educate Japan’s youth, according to the AP.

“I wanted the audience to realize that this story is not taking place in the remote past, but rather in a recent past when our grand-grand parents lived,” the director said at a news conference on Thursday. “It is our story, the story of our everyday life. In Japan, contemporary history is something children do not know very well.”

The film’s a remake of the 1963 classic “Thirteen Assassins.” Taking place in Japan’s Edo period around 300 years ago, it’s the story of thirteen samurai who take on a suicide mission to prevent a murderer from rising to a power position in the shogunate.

Miike, 50, has earned a reputation for producing contentious content in his work, including 2001’s “Ichi the Killer,” which was so sexually violent, audience members were given airsickness bags featuring the film’s logo.

The remake will likely feature Miike’s signature violent elements. American director Quentin Tarantino, who also likes to toy with violence, has cited Miike as an influence. Tarantino is also serving as jury president at the Golden Lion Film Festival in Venice, where Miike’s upcoming film will premiere this week.

One of the project’s executive producers is Toshiaki Nakazawa, who also produced the Oscar-winning foreign film, “Departures.” The film’s cast includes Koji Yakusho, who also starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Babel.”