07-07-2014, 11:37 AM
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.
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.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse