Zatoichi

[Drunk Monk]

Maybe I jinxed it with my fawning over the series in the previous post, but this was the first one that wasn't quite up to snuff. It had a great start, an intriguing mission from a jail cell neighbor, as well as some interwoven story arcs, but in the end, a lot seems dropped to get to that final fight. It feels almost as if they had all these ideas, and then realized they'd already spent too much time developing the story and had to get to the fight finale, so the loose ends are tied curtly.

There is a funny plot development with a rogue monk who starts impersonating Ichi to scam various crime bosses for their patronage. That feels as if it's an idea that fell from the dice player in the previous installment. But the idea is abandoned too quickly, although there is great panache with a candle-cut minutes prior to an ambush of the fake Ichi and Ichi. The candle falls plunging the ambushers into darkness, and then Ichi can keep up the ruse. Now that Zatoichi has a rep, his stature precedes him, and this could have been played out just a little better than it was here.

The final fight is great - Ichi has to run the gauntlet to deliver a confession which will absolve the doomed man. He faces swords, naginatas and fishing harpoons, plus a gun (which just sort of fizzles). There's a great single shot sequence and some exquisite Nito (two sword) work by Katsu. The soundtrack returns to that classic Japanese movie music of the day, an elephantine shuffle of brass instruments that evokes the great Kurosawa flicks, and of course, Gojira.

This was still an enjoyable film, just not up to par with the rest. It's been the weakest one so far.

[Drunk Monk]

Zatoichi and the Chess Expert
This one is very convoluted - almost too many story arcs. I started it and came back to it a few days later and got a little lost. S watched the end with me and I got messed up trying to recount the story so far because I mistook some of the characters. The chess master is a good foil for Ichi - the chess and swordsmanship metaphor - someone should do their PhD on that :oops: . It takes place at Hakone, the namesake of ED's matrimonial grounds, which is akin to Japan's version of UK's Bath in Jane Austin novels. There a woman on a quest for vengeance cross-dressed as a man that doesn't even look faintly masculine but only Ichi can see through her disguise. Ichi plays out a funny gambling scam, and gets busted at it. There's a little girl with tetanus w/a damsel in distress. The little girl takes on the 'premature' role, which is a persistent theme, one I've love to see rekindled in martial arts cinema today. Ichi is often hiding his darkside from innocent children so they don't follow his footsteps. This film isn't as panoramic as the previous films. The earlier part of the series revels in Japan's countryside with lovely widescreen landscape shots. This one is more set pieces, more tightly framed in dark woody spaces. Until the end, where Mt. Fuji is the backdrop.

Ichi never does a chiburi. The fights end with everyone standing still as Ichi does his noto, and the moment the blade clicks back into saya, they all fall over dead. I'm still very impressed by Katsu's noto. Even with a dull blade, after several complex and frantic cuts, he always returns to a perfect noto. It's perfect zanshin, and one of the many qualities that make Zatoichi a brilliant martial arts film series. SPOILER The chess master fight is particularly amusing as the killing cut is several tempi prior to the noto. But then, whenever you see Ichi noto, you know it's done. END SPOILER

Hulu+ stalled out with about 5 minutes to go and S commented 'Five minutes? They're going to get all this resolved in five minutes?" I said "Yea, almost everybody is going to die - it's just a matter of who." Five minutes and dozens of bodies later S said, "well, obviously he wasn't going to die because there are more films."

Zatoichi's Vengeance - not to be confused with Zatoichi's Revenge (but these are just the English titles - the Japanese titles seem to translate literally quite differently - maybe I'll translate those a little more carefully later as my Japanese is really rusty).

I saw this one before but I only remembered the drum attack and the flicking-booger-into-boss's-sake move.

Ichi finds him alongside a blind monk, who offers him wisdom and the philosophical quandaries and karmic issues of his lifestyle. He persuades Ichi to swap out his sword cane for stick. Not that it makes much difference as Ichi can steal his opponent's katana just as easily, and the sword cane magically reappears later. There's a young adoring boy (the premature) and Ichi takes a beating to show his weakness and put the boy off. The final fight takes place in silhouette. I didn't think that would work because its such a short cut (pun intended) in choreographic skill, but the tension of the fight is sustained well enough and I applaud the creativity of how that played out. It was still a decent length single shot take and choreographed in a way that the fight could be followed quite clearly.

[Drunk Monk]

Zatoichi's Pilgrimage
This one starts out very cinematic with a visit to some beautiful ancient shrine and an intriguing story idea - Ichi on a walk of repentance. But that idea gets lost as the actual story gets started, which was a bit of a shame because it was a nice idea that was worth pursuing. It turns into an homage to Kurosawa. There's a dismembered hand scene, the most graphic in the series so far as most of the violence is done with spattered red blood, but no actual gore. Even though the context is completely different, the hand evokes the opening of Yojimbo. Then the story becomes essentially Seven Samurai, but instead of seven, there's only one lone blind gambler. The big finale fight is quite good, especially the opening sequence which is one extended shot of another complexly choreographed sequence. And the fate of the farmer who finally picks up a sword and fights is awesome.

Zatoichi's Cane Sword
This is an excellent one as the intertwining story arcs showcases what Ichi flix do best. The story behind Ichi's sword, and backstory of the swordmaker, plays out against the typical evil boss intrigues, leaving Ichi swordless for a large part of the film. Of course, he's good with a stick, so it doesn't matter that much. I really enjoyed the pacing of this one. A well told chapter in the tale. Ichi gains the upper hand at one point and shows what an ass he can be (quite literally) when a toady crime boss tries to kiss-up to him. It's a delightful scene as it shows Ichi's mischievousness. There are a few good plot twists, mostly predictable but intricate enough to keep it going.

Some emergent themes of the series overall:

There's a lot of women singing folk songs a capella, which is nice, not only because it documents the art form, but because the singers are pretty good usually.

Weather is harsh - Ichi is usually sweating like a pig in the Japanese heat. If not that, it's raining or snowing.

The villages are really nice. They look very authentic. Some are obviously set pieces, but Ichi wanders about the scenic countryside a lot, and I wonder about these locations - whether they still look medieval like in the films or if they are all paved now with satellite dishes.

Ichi's massage looks really unpleasant.

It's fun to watch Ichi eat rice, which he invariably stuff his face with so grains are stuck to his lips and chin, and to watch him drink sake, because he really looks like he's enjoying it. I took my mom and S out to sushi last night and I was craving sake, but I didn't indulge because I was down on sleep and had to drive my mom home through beach traffic.

There's a lot of male Japanese ass. They are all wearing mawashi (the sumo diaper, if you will) but that's almost as revealing on a man as a thong on a woman.

[Drunk Monk]

This one was the first Katsu production (Katsu as in Shintaro, not chicken - Shintaro Katsu is Zatoichi). The film has a much darker, grittier tone than the previous ones. It revisits some old themes, like Ichi doing archery in a fair booth, taking the smallest target and asking the booth person to tap it, and another one that I've just blanked on. Aw shoot, what was that? I saw it and thought, well, that's a good point for my DOOM review, and now I've blanked on it. oh bollocks.

Here Ichi is more accepting in his role of yakuza, even introducing himself to the local boss and extolling the code of the yakuza like some permutation of bushido. But in the end, he becomes filled with self-loathing and guilt. His killing indirectly causes great suffering, and the only path to redemption is to kill even more. I can totally relate.

This one is the bloodiest so far with several arm dismemberments, often with the katana still clutched in the fallen hand, and the first full on decapitation. Blood spurts more too, out of close-ups of throats and symbolically across a scattered chest of gold, split by Ichi in one stroke.

The tone of the film muddier, torrential rainstorms, more shadowy - Ichi is really sweaty and dirty, and gets beaten and bloodied a lot more than in earlier films. Half way through, there's a shift in this film as Ichi retreats from the plot and winds up hanging out with a house of wacky blind masseurs who are almost derogatorily comic. He thinks everything was resolved peacefully, but then finds out that it was even more messed up than before. There are many suicides. The damsel falls from grace in so many ways - brother slain, riches taken, raped, tortured, forced into prostitution - there's no redemption. When Ichi comes at one of the villains, staggering slowly and menacingly, covered in blood, it's disturbing, akin to the finale scene in Freaks.

There's a folk song from the farmers about not gambling. The music is way in your face with the finale fight being set to a variation of Carmina Burana. Katsu also displays his shamisen skills, which look quite convincing as it is shot straight on so you can see his strumming and fingering, and they match the music perfectly. It doesn't look faked.

The fights are still good, although - ahh, I remember that repeated theme - the scarecrow trick. He did it with a lantern in a previous film. Here he does it with a hat. Anyway, the fights are still good, although the sensationalism of chopped off limbs takes centerstage (let's call that the 'Black Knight factor' after MP & the Holy Grail). There are also flintlocks and amusingly, one goes out in the rain.

[Drunk Monk]

Zatoichi Challenged
This one is a gem. Ichi gets caught up in intrigues involving a porn ring. Now these movies are set in a period before the internet, before cameras even. So the porn is forbidden drawings, done on decorative plates with forbidden materials (gold and silver) for the private collections of rich lords. Ichi gets saddled with another cute kid when the boy's mother dies and tasks Ichi to get the boy to his father the artist. He is being held against his will and forced to make the porn drawings. It's hard to wrap your head around the crime actually, but it is punishable by death. And save for some odd pranks on Ichi's blindness by the kid, this installment is not as humorous as the others. Nor is it that bloody. It plays out like a good drama. What makes this such a great flick is Ichi has to face off with a samurai, his toughest opponent so far, and the final swordfight is spectacular. It's absurdly complex, almost to the level of a Kung Fu swordfight, with several exchanges that last many sword cuts before a cut in the editing. It's gorgeous work, very fast, worth slowing down to break it down (but sadly Hulu+ does not offer that function). The samurai is very skilled, and the ending is surprising. It's my favorite swordfight so far.

Zatoichi and the Fugitive
Not to be mistaken for the Zatoichi vs. the One-armed swordsman. That comes later. In this one, Ichi gets wrapped up in slave labor silk weavers, which doesn't seem that far off from a sweatshop today. It's a little bloodier and there's some limb chopping. Most notable is that Ichi is taken in by a doctor played by the brilliant Takashi Shimura, the lead Ronin in Seven Samurai, and the lead in Ikiru. He also had roles in several other Kurosawa flicks, and notably, the Godzilla franchise. It's great to see him play off of Shintaro Katsu. SPOILER Ichi gets shot END SPOILER. This results in one of his roughest battles, because he's a bloody mess from it. This one also has a rather dark tone, although not as dark as the Outlaw. SPOILER Another repeated them occurs when Ichi kills the damsel's brother. It also has the most graphic Japanese male ass when Ichi cuts the clothes off some assailents.
END SPOILER
Both of these films have what is best described as Japanese Tom Jones songs...it's very late 70s and somewhat distracting.

[Drunk Monk]

This one takes the 'Ichi kills the damsel's brother' motif to the max. It happens right away, and the bulk of the film is dedicated to everyone trying to find redemption. There's a different permutation where Ichi meets another wandering swordsman and partners with him. That swordsman is also yakuza, but he's played more for comic relief, turning his portion into a buddy film as he's somewhat bumbling. He never gets wrapped up in wanting to duel Ichi. He just wants to survive the underworld mayhem. There's a blind-man-plays-a-tossing-game, akin to the earlier archery games, but this one is with daruma dolls and there's no tapping of the target, so it's just dumb luck. Also, Ichi's gambling scheme goes a foul as he gets caught blatantly cheating - it's usually the other way around. The Tom-Jones music continues. There is also another samurai, which makes for an extended finale duel; although not quite as good as one in Challenged, it's still a great swordfight.

I've seen this one before but I only remember one scene - the absurd escape from being wrapped in the tatami mat. The rest was all fresh for me. Sometimes the lack of memory is nice as I can enjoy it for a second time. :?

Some odd thematic notes:
The damsels are somewhat odd looking in most of the films. They are all beautiful of course, but they are unusual beauties. Their faces are almost alien, exaggerated in odd little ways, almost like living anime gals.

Damsels falling for Ichi is a regular motif that plays out the awkwardness of Ichi nicely. He feels too guilty, too low, too dirty, too shameful about all the blood on his hands, to besmirch fair damsels.

Damsels give hairpins as tokens a lot. (In this film, Ichi even turns it into a weapon).

[Drunk Monk]

I've been itchy for my Ichi fix.

#20 was the aforementioned Z vs. Yojimbo, which skipped backwards in time for some reason, but I'm not going to question the order of the mighty Criterion on Hulu+.

Fire Festival continues the versus theme featuring the Sword of Doom himself, the always psychotic Tatsuya Nakadai. Like Godzilla vs. Mothra/Ghidora/King Kong/Mechagodzilla/Smog Monster/ad nauseum, Ichi is facing off against the top cinematic warriors of his day. The next one is Z vs. the One-Armed Swordsman, a classic Kung Fu hero, and a film that I remember.

Fire Festival also pits Ichi against a blind uber boss, which makes for a great game of blind Go that is as good as a swordfight. There's also young sidekick that's a tad fay. Well, more than a tad. He wears eyeshadow and looks like he fell off a K-pop boy bandwagon. His character has the Pinocchio problem 'I wanna be a real boy' or 'man' as he says in the film, but really, he'd be satisfied with just boy as he is so fem. This is also the first film that shows female nipples, rather exploitively at that. There's a surreal flashback sequence that is reminiscent of Kurosawa's DoDesKaDen. The swordfights are good, as always, with Nakadai added an extended scene of slaughter, but this one leans more to Ichitrix, scenes like a group of bamboo spearmen notice that their poles are split, and then keel over split themselves. It's funny stuff, classic Ichi.

[Drunk Monk]

There is this prevalent cinematic myth that like Godzilla vs. King Kong, there are two versions of this film. In the Japanese version, Ichi wins. In the Chinese version, both die. I've never found the Chinese version.

The One-Armed Swordsman was a classic Kung Fu flick starring Jimmy Wang Yu, arguably the first Kung Fu superstar although ironically, he was a swimming champion, not a Kung Fu guy. Personally, I was never that fond of it. I respect it as a pivotal film, but it hasn't held up well over time. Wang's Kung Fu is mediocre at best and to deprive him of one arm made it look even worse choreographically. There was a remake called Blade many years later that was far superior. Anyway, you'd think I'd like this one as it is truly a Kung Fu/Chambara hybrid. Not only the choreography, but even the sound effects are more classic Kung Fu in Wang's fights. But his choreography is still mediocre. He does manage a decent fire stunt, which is interesting to consider as back then, fire stunts were real; this predates CGI by decades. Actually, the miscommunications between Wang's character (named Wang) and Ichi are more amusing than the actual fight because Wang speaks Mandarin throughout the film, and there's a lot of misunderstandings as the two swordsmen try to communicate. There's another orphaned kid that falls under Ichi's care. There's also some choice ultravi, a toothpick to the eyeball, an ear-ectomy, a severed sword bearing hand echoed by the Jidai/Jedi in Star Wars. This is not a stand-out example of Zatoichi flicks. It's more of a failed attempt to cross-over to the Kung Fu market, a deviant side-note to an amazing film franchise.

On a side note, the music is by Isao Tomita, or as many know him, Tomita. Tomita also did the soundtrack for Fire Festival, but that film was more over the top so it didn't stand out as much as in this one. I have fond memories of Tomita's electronic version of Holst's The Planets, but I'm guessing that that has not stood the test of time either.

Three more to go. I'm going to savor them.

[Drunk Monk]

This one was a little disappointing. Again, Ichi is saddled with a kid, a newborn no less, but that character is quickly moved on from to feature his impish brother. Again, he tries to suckle that newborn with his own nipple. Again, Ichi is blamed for a lot of stuff he didn't do. Again, he tries to save the innocent damsel from being sold into prostitution. Again, he cuts the clothes off some yakuza so there is gratuitous yakuza ass. Gone is the Tomita soundtrack, replaced by a really annoying whiny Japanese singer yowling some ballad about Ichi to 70s music. This one feels a little played out, sad to say. But the finale fight is still pretty awesome. It's a complex one. Ichi takes on dozens upon dozens of yakuza. There's a fire sequence, a slippery floor sequence, an Ichi in a demon mask sequence (fulfilling an early comment he makes about how one good deed turns him into a demon), an almost Jackie Chan-esque scene where he is trying to deflect one of his opponents who is mistakenly attempting revenge for something Ichi didn't do all while Ichi is cutting down yakuza all around him. Lots of well-timed blood spurts and sliced objects falling apart several moments after the cut. It's grim too. Ichi has really lost his sense of humor, a major selling point for the character IMO. I want to say this is the weakest one so far.

[Drunk Monk]

The title describes this one succinctly. It is the grimmest installment. Katsu is clearly exhausted artistically with the character and heaps abuse on him psychologically and physically. Some old motifs are repeated again, like Ichi's scam to let one of the dice fall outside the cup a few times, and then to let them both fall, but then to reveal that it was the dice from his sleeve that were exposed and the true dice remain in the cup. There's some really dark stuff here - the rape of a mentally disabled boy, the brutal killing of another innocent boy, the suicide of a young virgin about to be deflowered in a brothel, the random death of an old woman, the rescue of a top prostitute from a brothel only to find she didn't want to leave - and most unpleasant is the fate of Ichi, crippling him for the most grisly fight so far. The choreography isn't as good in this one - a lot is obscured by dark scenes and quick cuts. The music is a funky 70s soundtrack - a rambling bass line with bongo drums reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin's iconic soundtrack for Enter the Dragon. There are some weird flashback hallucinatory scenes, too visual for a blind man. This one is pretty bloody too. If I had seen this film out of order, I would not have liked it. But in order, it makes a lot of sense. It's more about Katsu expressing his own frustration with being typecast as Ichi, a self-destructive urge played out on film.

The next one is the last one of the theatrical films. Hulu+ also has another outside the series made much later - I think it is from the TV show. And Hulu+ just released the female versions - later rip-offs of the idea. Crimson Bat which came soon after Zatoichi and runs some four films I think, and Ichi, which came much later. both feature female leads - blind swordswomen. I remember seeing one Crimson Bat back in the day and it was really exploitive. I've never seen Ichi but I recall reading a review that implied that she was Ichi's daughter. I'll probably explore those later. I'm pretty hooked to Ichi now and even though my obligatory Kung Fu flicks are starting to back up, I may stay in the blind chambara world for a little longer.

[Drunk Monk]

Ichi goes back to his home town, finds government and yakusa intrigue, and cuts down a lot of villains. It's strange that the villagers don't know Ichi, of what he became. There's some good moments, Ichi is a dark avenger in this one, but it isn't a stellar example of the series. It doesn't bring much new to the table. Several motifs are recycled, although there is a fresh take on the ol' candle cutting so the flame stays on the blade. The action is decent although some of the swordplay is obscured for dramatic effect. There's some decent amputations and arterial sprays. No humor though. Watching the films in order makes the progression from comic to tragic overt.

Now...what to watch...

[cranefly]

First off, this has been an epic review journey. Thanks for sharing it.

As for what comes next, have you seen the Maiku Hama Private Eye Trilogy? If not, you might consider it. No, I don't recall sword fights, but to my mind it's still worth visiting.

1. The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994)
2. The Stairway to the Distant Past (1995)
3. The Trap (1996)

Each of these movies follows the emotional arc of the entire Zatoichi series. They start out with lots of Private Eye humor, sort of turning the genre on its side, but then a real case turns up, and each time it gets gritty and nasty fast, ending with some brutal and satisfying drama. I watched the three movies in reverse order. No, not on purpose. It was my naive process of discovering that it was a trilogy. If you only watch one, let it be the last, which has a bigger budget and all the actors are comfortable in their roles, the director is more inventive than ever, and the case gets really really strange. But the first two have merit as well.

[Drunk Monk]

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm still in the blind chanbara zone.

Zatoichi is a dangling feature on Hulu+, not included in the Criterion collection and dated 1989. I believe it was one of the television installments, and I'm not sure how extensive the tv stuff is exactly, or where to see it. It's 2 hours (most of the films are closer to an hour and a half), and it has these parsing fades that were surely for commercial breaks. But then, this is also the most violent installment so far, lots of decapitation, amputation and arterial sprays. Ichi even fights one battle wielding a decapitated head. There's even a flying nose. And there's a few topless scenes. Ichi get laid in a hot tub (finally! And it's a weird scene because that character sort of disappears for most of the rest of the film, leading me to believe she plays a role in later installments of the tv series). Dayum, Japanese TV rocked back in 89. Ichi does the dice-falls-out-of-the-cup scam and the cutting-candle-resting-on-sword-tip again. Ichi is grayer, and begins groveling in prison. Not much humor here, but there is some. The pay-out finale fight is excellent. There's a massive yakuza war, that segue ways into Ichi cutting down more yakuza then ever with some great moves. My two favs SPOILER Ichi splits a bamboo spear in two to cut the wielder as both shards penetrate two more yakuza & the hiding in the blind urination scene which is just priceless END SPOILER. One other notable oddity - there's a ballad for this film sung in English.

Now, on to Crimson Bat.

[Drunk Monk]

I have a faint recollection of seeing one of these, but I can't really remember it. Perhaps it was only a snippet in some doc or something.

Oichi is a clear rip-off of Zatoichi. She's a gambler, itinerant, and wields a cane sword backwards (I'm guessing this is because blind people can't see which is the sharp end?) She is NOT a masseuse. The first of four films came out in '69 and star Yoko Matsuyama in the lead role. She's gorgeous in that late sixties way, very elegant in a geisha-like way with an extremely long supple neck, reminiscent of the early Bond girls. She plays blind in the opposite manner from Katsu. She never blinks. Never. And some of the scenes are fairly long continuous shots. Her unfocused gaze, accentuated by heavy mascara, works for blindness.

The first film is Oichi begins - her backstory plays out with a semi-typical save-the-virgin-from-being-sold-to-a-brothel cliche. There's a villainess who wields a flying yoyo, although not very well, a love interest sensei, and nefarious yakuza. It's engaging enough to support the swordfights and that's all we ask.

Yoko has some sword skills and the fights are good. They are bloody, but not too gory - crimson - and in the opening fight, Oichi's cuts are spliced into frames of red paint being splattered on a white wall for dramatic effect. Where Ichi has a stumbling roguish sword technique, Oichi must fight in a tight kimono, limiting her foot work to a very narrow stance. Katsu was an established martial master, but I haven't found anything on Yoko yet aside from that she starred in two judo movies prior to Crimson Bat. She's not nearly as skilled as Katsu, but she holds her own. There's more elegance to her sword technique given the restrictions of her outfit.

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Oichi, being a Japanese female, brings a frailty to the role that's quite different than Zatoichi. There is no comic element, but there's this great girl power to it, as when Oichi draws, she kicks ass.

[Drunk Monk]

Being a woman, Oichi aspires to love. Zatoichi just wants to be accepted because he's a homely blind guy, but Oichi, a lovely blind gal, can aspire higher. Yoko has one of those intricate faces, like Meryl Streep in the way she seems to have a few extra facial muscles than most humans. Yoko really works her eyes, but in this one, her blindness was so inconsequential. She wasn't giving as many vacant stares. Quite the opposite, she was looking all over the place. There were several prolonged close-ups of her registering various emotions like a romance. In fact, that's the main element that Oichi brings to the narrative. Oichi tries to put away her cane sword and be happy, just for a night, just before she has to kill everyone. Then she kills everyone. And it's kind of sweet. Romantic. Then, it's rage unleashed. As for the fights, she's got this blind girl flailing style of swordwork, but she sticks the kill shots. She wears crimson kimonos and her cane sword has a crimson case and handle, so it's very visual. In the finale, a daylight fight scene switches to this surreal stage and it becomes almost like bunraku with kill shots focusing on contorted faces in red and green lights, and then to stills of Oichi cutting and blood splashing, like some sort of French Art film.

There's a great villainess that wields a whip woven from the hair of jilted women and keeps vipers in her bosom for throwing weapons (she has a huge snake yakuza tat on her back).

Very entertaining. Would have been totally DOOM worthy back in the day. Now it's vintage and we don't do so much of that at DOOM...we should.