gZa
24-03-2004, 11:14
Watched this last night...
I was a bit hesitant to watch this film as big a fan of Takeshi Kitano I am, I was worried that making a traditional chambara flick - that's had no less than 27(!!!) previous incarnations in the last 40 years - would stifle his unique style. After all despite his films constantly getting bracket in the Asian action sections, next to the likes of John Woo and Ringo Lam. The truth of the matter is Kitano has never been an 'action' director per say, so how would he deal with the action confines of the chambara flick not to mention playing the lead - a blind masterful masseur/samurai?
Well he doesn't! In quite a ballsy move he's managed to make a Zatoichi film which is a Kitano film through and through. All his trademarks are here; the flashbacks without warning (that tend to catch you off guard at first), the sudden bursts of violence (albeit we actually see the events rather than just the pre- and post- action he usually gives you), the static camera framing (although admittedly it is more dynamic than normal), and of course the comedy routines (thankfully he gives most of these to his co-stars - I had worried it might have turned into 'Mr Magoo'). The performances all round were great, there was a few new faces amongst the usual stock Kitano actors - mostly unrecognisable in their samurai gear, hidden under bald heads and top knots. :)
What was new, was the fact regular Kitano (and Miyazaki) composer Joe Hisaishi was absent, had I known this beforehand I might have been disappointed, however the score by Keiichi Suzuki was one of the highlights of the film. Here he blends diegetic sounds (farmers working in fields, rain falling on a puddle) in to non-diegetic (almost videogame like) music that would make Sergio Leone smile. This starts early on in the proceedings and foreshadows nicely what is to come, so by the time the film climaxes with a huge tap dancing number performed by the cast you're not sat there thinking you've stumbled into a screening of Dancer In The Dark. :p
The only downer was the continuing nature (particularly in Japanese cinema) of using CGI to create the blood effects. :|
Maybe I've been spoilt by Tarantino's Kill Bill or maybe I've just been watching too many 'Lone Wolf' movies of late...but CGI just doesn't convincingly look like liquid to me, unless it done VERY well (i.e expensive). Here it just cheapens the movie.
To be fair Kitano has used it well in the past (Brother) but there it was to add to the prosthetic effects, here it's just on it own and it not only sticks out like a sore thumb but literally gets cut off like one! I read he originally tried to use the traditional methods but found it too difficult and wasn't happy with the results, indeed having to fight with eyes closed can't of helped things. In a funny anecdote he mentioned that having his eyes closed throughout the movie stopped him from using his normal technique of reciting his lines from huge cue cards behind the camera, such was his poor memory for remembering them. :lol:
All in all this is a great chambara movie as well as a good Kitano film. It's not really a 'Zatoichi' film though. Kitano only plays one character amongst others (think Boiling Point). Infact Zatoichi's bumbling gambling friend practically steals this movie. It's quite an audience friendly affair too (as box office has shown) unlike his latter art house films Dolls and Kikujiro but this makes it no less an achievement. Amazingly too (to fans of the master this is far far from a spoiler) Kitano doesn't die at the end! :eek:
So the likelihood of a sequel is all but assured. :clap:
I was a bit hesitant to watch this film as big a fan of Takeshi Kitano I am, I was worried that making a traditional chambara flick - that's had no less than 27(!!!) previous incarnations in the last 40 years - would stifle his unique style. After all despite his films constantly getting bracket in the Asian action sections, next to the likes of John Woo and Ringo Lam. The truth of the matter is Kitano has never been an 'action' director per say, so how would he deal with the action confines of the chambara flick not to mention playing the lead - a blind masterful masseur/samurai?
Well he doesn't! In quite a ballsy move he's managed to make a Zatoichi film which is a Kitano film through and through. All his trademarks are here; the flashbacks without warning (that tend to catch you off guard at first), the sudden bursts of violence (albeit we actually see the events rather than just the pre- and post- action he usually gives you), the static camera framing (although admittedly it is more dynamic than normal), and of course the comedy routines (thankfully he gives most of these to his co-stars - I had worried it might have turned into 'Mr Magoo'). The performances all round were great, there was a few new faces amongst the usual stock Kitano actors - mostly unrecognisable in their samurai gear, hidden under bald heads and top knots. :)
What was new, was the fact regular Kitano (and Miyazaki) composer Joe Hisaishi was absent, had I known this beforehand I might have been disappointed, however the score by Keiichi Suzuki was one of the highlights of the film. Here he blends diegetic sounds (farmers working in fields, rain falling on a puddle) in to non-diegetic (almost videogame like) music that would make Sergio Leone smile. This starts early on in the proceedings and foreshadows nicely what is to come, so by the time the film climaxes with a huge tap dancing number performed by the cast you're not sat there thinking you've stumbled into a screening of Dancer In The Dark. :p
The only downer was the continuing nature (particularly in Japanese cinema) of using CGI to create the blood effects. :|
Maybe I've been spoilt by Tarantino's Kill Bill or maybe I've just been watching too many 'Lone Wolf' movies of late...but CGI just doesn't convincingly look like liquid to me, unless it done VERY well (i.e expensive). Here it just cheapens the movie.
To be fair Kitano has used it well in the past (Brother) but there it was to add to the prosthetic effects, here it's just on it own and it not only sticks out like a sore thumb but literally gets cut off like one! I read he originally tried to use the traditional methods but found it too difficult and wasn't happy with the results, indeed having to fight with eyes closed can't of helped things. In a funny anecdote he mentioned that having his eyes closed throughout the movie stopped him from using his normal technique of reciting his lines from huge cue cards behind the camera, such was his poor memory for remembering them. :lol:
All in all this is a great chambara movie as well as a good Kitano film. It's not really a 'Zatoichi' film though. Kitano only plays one character amongst others (think Boiling Point). Infact Zatoichi's bumbling gambling friend practically steals this movie. It's quite an audience friendly affair too (as box office has shown) unlike his latter art house films Dolls and Kikujiro but this makes it no less an achievement. Amazingly too (to fans of the master this is far far from a spoiler) Kitano doesn't die at the end! :eek:
So the likelihood of a sequel is all but assured. :clap: