05-19-2014, 02:37 PM
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).
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).
Shadow boxing the apocalypse