Zatoichi
Cult director 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano applies his offbeat (no pun intended) style to the samurai genre, resurrecting the massively popular (in Japan) character of Zatoichi, a blind swordsman who roams the country helping those in need and slicing and dicing those in his way. This being a Takeshi film, its a strange mixture of viscous action, slapstick comedy, moving drama and dance (?!). His skill is in blending these seemingly contrasting elements into a satisfying (if somewhat peculiar) whole. There are one or two moments that feel a bit too random (the stunning fight in the rain came from nowhere), but on a whole this is arthouse entertainment at its best. The fight scenes are frequent and stunningly well made, putting Kill Bill's swordplay to shame, although the computer gernerated blood took a while to shine to. The dramatic elements concerning the tale of two Geishas bent on revenge work well too, adding a moving counterpoint to the blood soaked mayhem that it sits by. As an actor Takeshi gives a strong central performance in the title role, always subtly charasmatic despite his relatively small amount of dialogue. I wasn't entirely convinced by the tap-dancing finale (more because I thought it could have been edited more in sync with the music, rather than it just being too random), but on the whole, Zatoichi is a wonderfully bizaare and very entertaining film that puts most of Hollywood's recent Eastern-influenced output to shame. 8/10 |
