Baian the Assassin M.D. (2023)

[Drunk Monk]

Baian is an acupuncturist assassin who kills with a long needle to the base of the skull. It’s a slow, brooding and beautiful movie, one of those jidaigeki films where every frame is composed like a ukiyo painting. It took me a while to get into it. There’s some fight choreo, including a nice scene where one character has to take an a gang of attackers, but mostly it’s about intrigue and suspense. There’s a lot of eating, a strange focus on food, and drinking sake with loud slurps and gulps. That was somewhat distracting but served as a grounding mechanism. The ending mcguffin was intense. Did not expect to go there and it made the journey worth it. 

There’s a part 2. It’s based on a novel and there’s a previous TV interpretation. I’ll probably give the sequel a go.

Not overly D00M recommended but a good story so far.

Seen censored on YouTube (there a sex scene that blurred ai all you get is a few minutes of mowing. ignore the John Wick comment in the title -that’s so misleading).

[Greg]

Mowing is the worst.

[Drunk Monk]

Baian the Assassin M.D. 2 (2023)

Part 2 was better. What makes this work is the lead, Toyokawa Etsushi as Baian. He has a certain gravitas to him, and plays out Baian's stoicism and ruthlessness with a cool panache. Part 2 picks up soon after part 1, reuniting several of the cast whose characters survived the first one. This time, Baian's assassin buddy, Hikojiro, sees the man who raped his wife, causing her to strangle their baby and hang herself out of PTSD. So yeah...revenge. Where Baian kills with long needles to the base of the skull, Hiko uses a tiny poisoned blowdart. 

Meanwhile, another samurai and his acolyte spot Baian, and there's a past there too. Baian had an affair with that samurai's wife, and that samurai blamed Baian for her death (he's not wrong). And there's a lot of political intrigue surrounding these acts of vengeance. 

There's more sword fights. This movie opens with a big gang sword fight. But overall, the production values are higher and the story is more engaging. Lots of flashback story moments. 

Even though this sequel is directly connected to the first film, you could skip that. That'll lessen the impact of a few callback moments, but this tale can stand on its own. Still a lot gratuitous food shots, loud slurping of sake, and louder gulping. That works better in the sequel, or many I'm just numb to it already. 

D00M recommended.



Again I watched the censored version (you need to subscribe to see the uncensored version). Consequently there were a few blurry scene of mowing. mow, mow, mow, oh Baian, mow, mow.