Article: Samurai movie mad masterpiece

Samurai movie mad masterpiece
Posted on Sun, Sep. 05, 2004

Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano remakes popular series,
successfully adds his own spin

By Bob Strauss

Los Angeles Daily News

Stone-faced Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano blurs the line between
insanity and genius with The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, his sublimely
syncopated re-imagining of the popular samurai movie series from the
1960s, '70s and '80s.

With blond-dyed hair, ``Beat'' Takeshi, as the director likes to call
himself when acting, puts a new spin on the rumpled avenger the late
Shintaro Katsu, embodied through 26 features and tons of TV episodes.
He's quieter and chuckles like a fool a lot, but Takeshi's wandering,
gambling masseur is still swiftly and precisely deadly with a cane-
sheathed sword.

But that mayhem (and there is lots of it, choreographed with brutal
impact and lots of computer-generated blood) is just the core of an
astute design scheme that lifts B-movie entertainment to a level of
kamikaze art.

At various stages throughout the film, you'll notice background
activities or connecting scenes -- 19th-century peasants working a
field, say, or inspired nonsense with barrels -- taking on a
distinctive rhythmic quality that could, perhaps, reflect Zatoichi's
heightened hearing. When this joyously culminates with a bizarre
climactic tap-dancing routine, you know things have gone where no
samurai has dared go before. If this doesn't completely throw you out
of the film, you'll be absolutely delighted.

The story, which is loosely based on the first Zatoichi movie,
follows the traditional-enough lines of our hero entering a town
caught up in a gang war. There's also a masterless ronin, Gennosuke
Hattori (the imposing Tadanobu Asano), whom we know Zatoichi will
eventually face down.

But that's as standard as matters are allowed to get. Two geisha with
murder on their minds (and one big secret between them), a crusty old
woman and her wastrel nephew whose sexuality comes into sudden
question are just some of the oddballs Zatoichi has to cope with.

As he's done in some of his gangster movies (Sonatine) and
sentimental kid comedies (Kikujiro), Takeshi juggles and juxtaposes
comedy with violence and burlesque with social commentary. But he's
never before mixed so many disparate elements as boldly, nor as
successfully, as he does in Zatoichi. It's a mad masterpiece.