The summer of 2004 promises to be all swords'n'sandals, but right now swords'n'sake is where it's at. A multiple award-winner at last year's Venice Film Festival, its UK release is well-timed, Kill Bill and The Last Samurai having whet our appetites for all things bushido. This beautiful, violent film not only equals the best of Takeshi's output but, in terms of tone and composition, surpasses it. It's his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—albeit with spurting arteries in place of mid-air ballet.
Although relatively unknown to western audiences, Zatoichi is one of Japan's longest-running franchises, lasting from 1962 to 1989 through 26 films and a TV series, which made a pop-culture icon out of star Shintarô Katsu. Takeshi, probably the only Japanese superstar who could take on the memory of Katsu (who died in 1997), plays the enigmatic blind swordsman who arrives in a remote mountain village beset by gangs, one of which has hired a lethal samurai (Asano) to wipe out its rivals. On the other side of town, a geisha assassin and her brother are out for revenge on the criminals who slaughtered their family. Zatoichi ends up in the middle, setting the scene for one hell of a showdown.
It's a brilliantly balanced film, swerving between extreme violence (torsos sundered in full CGI-assisted detail), comic relief (Gadarukanaru plays the incompetent sidekick) and moments of pure cinematic beauty in which Kitano shoots the rural landscape with a heightened awareness of nature that recalls Terrence Malick. Where his previous work could be cold and inscrutable, this is warm and involving; celebrating family and community in among all the hideous bloodshed. In that sense, it's true to Katsu's original movies. It's also an eye-opener for anyone whose opinions on samurai cinema are informed solely by Quentin Tarantino's lurid take on the genre. Zatoichi takes us back to a nobler age, recalling both Akira Kurosawa's '50s classics and the epic westerns they inspired. Call it Once Upon A Time In The East if you insist, just don't miss it.
Although relatively unknown to western audiences, Zatoichi is one of Japan's longest-running franchises, lasting from 1962 to 1989 through 26 films and a TV series, which made a pop-culture icon out of star Shintarô Katsu. Takeshi, probably the only Japanese superstar who could take on the memory of Katsu (who died in 1997), plays the enigmatic blind swordsman who arrives in a remote mountain village beset by gangs, one of which has hired a lethal samurai (Asano) to wipe out its rivals. On the other side of town, a geisha assassin and her brother are out for revenge on the criminals who slaughtered their family. Zatoichi ends up in the middle, setting the scene for one hell of a showdown.
It's a brilliantly balanced film, swerving between extreme violence (torsos sundered in full CGI-assisted detail), comic relief (Gadarukanaru plays the incompetent sidekick) and moments of pure cinematic beauty in which Kitano shoots the rural landscape with a heightened awareness of nature that recalls Terrence Malick. Where his previous work could be cold and inscrutable, this is warm and involving; celebrating family and community in among all the hideous bloodshed. In that sense, it's true to Katsu's original movies. It's also an eye-opener for anyone whose opinions on samurai cinema are informed solely by Quentin Tarantino's lurid take on the genre. Zatoichi takes us back to a nobler age, recalling both Akira Kurosawa's '50s classics and the epic westerns they inspired. Call it Once Upon A Time In The East if you insist, just don't miss it.
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