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Zatoichi - The Blind Swordsman

OneWingedBird

Beloved of Ra
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
15,431
This is a recent rather than new film but one that I'm rather taken with, about a wandering blind masseur who is also a master swordsman.

The story of Zatoichi apparently is a piece of parochial Japanese folklore, I can't think of an English equivalent to that, he isn't a cultural icon in the way that we have Robin Hood or King Arthur, but the story is well known in Northern Japan and seems to have caught the popular imagination in the age of film.

I'll admit to being a bit of a fan of Takashi Kitano anyway, but this film really impressed me, not just a change from his usual staple of grizzled old cop/gangster movies but quite a nice piece of creative cinema in its own right.

It's also got a rather interesting soundtrack, which if I'm not mistaken, seems to be a curious blend of traditional and modern instruments.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363226/
 
Can't beat an Akira Kurisawa pastiche, Lone Wolf and Cub style movie with a song and dance number at the end.
 
Good film. I posted on the series (and cleaned the post up recently and added more links) in the disabled fighters thread:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 956#507956

but its worth pointing out that the 2003 remake is part of Play.com's summer sale and is a lot cheaper than elsewhere:

www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=tit ... tle=169353
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002 ... ntmagaz-21

so if you are going to get it.......

The summer sale also has a lot of other great Martial Arts films cheap:

www.play.com/play247.asp?page=promo&R=r2&id=854&pa=prp

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I've also previously mentioned this but while the previous 26 films are largely available indivdually through R1 Arts Magic has released the ones it has in the UK as a boxset with the set heftily reduced at Play.com so you can pick the sets for the price being charged for an individual DVD (although in all fairness they also currently have these reduced too but it is still a good saving - the boxsets are just the DVDs in a carboard box):

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Zatoichi Box Set 1: Zatoichi The Outlaw / Zatoichi At The Fire Festival / Zatoichi In Desperation:

www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=tit ... tle=165800
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002 ... ntmagaz-21

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Zatoichi Box Set 2: Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo / Zatoichi's Pilgrimage / Zatoichi At The Blood Fest / Zatoichi Meets The One Armed Swordsman:

www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=tit ... tle=185861
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002 ... ntmagaz-21

They also have similar deals on the Babycart and Snowblood boxsets if this is your bag (as well as a number of other Samurai film boxsets - the Toshiro Mifune one is esp. good). Also in their summer sale is Kurosawa's "Ran" (his take on King Lear):

www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=103253

---
Kagemusha is also cheap but it is the same price over at Amazon

www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=102222
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000 ... ntmagaz-21

There is also a 2 disc R1 version but......

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005J ... enantmc-20
 
I've been recommending this film to my friends, as it's just so watchable and nice!

I'm not sure if it's just me, but it comes across as a super-violent family friendly film! Although all the flying limbs and blood sprays are CGI, they still look effective, but it's just the way Zatoichi just keeps on smiling in a really innocent way.. almost as if he's saying, "it's ok to kill someone when they're bad!". This is such a nice film in an ultra violent/feel good kind of way. Recommended by Mr Snowman for sure :)
 
Lord Snow Blood?

Mr Snowman said:
I've been recommending this film to my friends, as it's just so watchable and nice!

I'm not sure if it's just me, but it comes across as a super-violent family friendly film! Although all the flying limbs and blood sprays are CGI, they still look effective, but it's just the way Zatoichi just keeps on smiling in a really innocent way.. almost as if he's saying, "it's ok to kill someone when they're bad!". This is such a nice film in an ultra violent/feel good kind of way. Recommended by Mr Snowman for sure :)

I've read that one of Kitano's aims with the CGI blood was to make it more abstract and less gore for gore's sake. IMDB has a quick mention of it here:

The blood in the film has been described by many as being "too CGI". Kitano did this intentionally, wanting to "soften the shock to the audience" due to the high body count. Kitano told the CGI artist he wanted the blood to "look like flowers blossoming across the screen."

.......

Kitano said that he wanted the fights to be as realistic as possible, but that he wanted the blood to be extremely exaggerated.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0363226/trivia
 
The original series is great! They've been airing them the past 3-4 years, every Saturday morning on IFC, complete and uncut. I don't know how many I've watched but it's been quite a few. I would also recommend the Hanzo the Razor series. They contain more blood, violence, sex, and humor than the Zatoichi series.
 
The TV series looks to be due a release from Mediablasters:

6/1/05

We've got some great news today for you Zatoichi fans out there (and judging by the amount of e-mails we get, I know there are a lot of you). We've officially confirmed with Media Blasters that the company has obtained the Region 1 DVD rights to the Japanese Zatoichi Monogatari TV series! The series ran for four seasons (in 1974, '76, '78 and '79 respectively), with approximately 100 hour-long episodes produced in all. Media Blasters is currently planning to release the entire first season (26 episodes) on DVD in 2006. If sales of that first season are good, the company will continue releasing the remaining seasons until the complete series is available on DVD. Media Blasters has promised to keep us updated as their plans develop, so keep checking back here at The Bits for the latest.

Now if we could only convince Miramax to release Zatoichi's Pilgrimage on disc (click here for our recent update on that)... Harvey, Bob? You guys listening?

www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa104.html#zattv

There is also a Lone Wolf and Cub TV series (86 epsiodes) and I'm looking into the Mr. Vampire TV series "Vampire Expert."

and this is the post on the Pilgimage DVD release:

5/24/05

........

Now then, as many of you out there know, we're MAJOR fans of the Japanese Zatoichi film series, which depicts the adventures of a legendary blind swordsman played by the late Shintaro Katsu. All of the 26 films in the series are now available on DVD in the States (from Home Vision, AnimEigo and Media Blasters)... save one: Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, the missing 14th tale in the series. Exactly WHY this film is unavailable on DVD here, and who owns the release rights to the title, has been a mystery we've been investigating for close to three years now. But we've finally uncovered the answer to those questions... and they might surprise you.

As it turns out, Miramax purchased the U.S. rights to the film a number of years ago. Apparently, director Quentin Tarantino was interested in doing a remake of the film. Of course, not long after this, Japanese director Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) created his own updated version of the series, Zatoichi, which was also released to theaters and DVD in the U.S. through Miramax. Because of this, the future of Tarantino's version is uncertain. Unfortunately, also uncertain as a result of all this has been the fate of a U.S. DVD release of the original Zatoichi's Pilgrimage. We would like to strongly urge Buena Vista and Miramax to release the film on DVD, and we encourage all of you who are fans of these films to let the studio know you want Pilgrimage on disc ASAP. Sadly, pretty much everything DVD related at Miramax is on hold at the moment due to the Disney-Miramax split. In the meantime, we've updated our Zatoichi series review page with this new information.

www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa104.html#mup

The film is actually available in the UK from Arts magic:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000 ... ntmagaz-21

and is part of the boxset mentioned above.
 
I thought this was a great film. **SPOILER!** I particularly liked the showdown at the end. Most films work really hard on having a lengthy and spectacular fight to finish with but instead Kitano chose to have the briefest fight I can think of. It worked very well. Plus, you can't beat a good song and dance to finish with :D
 
It's one of Kitano's better points, he's not really into pulling punches, if somethings going to happen, it just happens and he gets on with it - if you like the vibe to this one, you might like some of his other films too.
 
Also he is (possibly ;) ) blind and so extended bouts of swordplay would be a no no - although there is a longish fight with the one armed swordsman when they meet but it tends to be quick flurries. One thing they seemed to be aiming at is that his advantage comes from a lightning fast draw and the element of suprise.
 
BlackRiverFalls - I would love to see more of his films. My knowledge of his filmography unfortunately exposes my lack of experience with non-Hollywood productions. My first Kitano film was Battle Royal and I have also seen Brother. Both were excellent. Are there any others that you can recomend?
 
Rather OT, but I was a bit disappointed when the blind swordswoman in House of The Flying Daggers turned out not to be blind after all. I don't know why - I just was.

And didn't Rutger Hauer star in some kind of bland Zatoichi rip-off?
 
One thing they seemed to be aiming at is that his advantage comes from a lightning fast draw and the element of suprise.

I'm told that katana/wakasashi sword fights are like that anyway, there's very limited scope to parry with the brittle blades, and the damage from them is so huge that one good strike is all you need - pref. a good first strike.

It's a tricky one to put in context though, we've really no idea what a real sword fight or duel might look like, I suspect no-where near as long as the herocs portrayed by Hollywood, even with cruder weapons.


My first Kitano film was Battle Royal and I have also seen Brother. Both were excellent.

There's a filmography credit for him here:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001429/

And I'm reminded just how many of his films I haven't seen - he's rather industrious!

Brother would have been my first choice to recommend as I'd say it's one of his more accessible films. Violent Cop and Hana-bi are both very good, the former is sort of a Jap Dirty Harry, the latter is another cop/ganster effort though more character driven.

Battle Royale is I think one of his best performances as actor but not director - he pops up too in Takeshi Miike's Izo, which is very bizarre and I'm not entirely sure worth watching - sort of a stream of consciousness movie. Supposedly there's a special Jap cut of Johnny Memnonic out there with an extra 20 minuts of Kitano in, but lets not go there!

I didn't realise until recently he was in Merry Christmas Mr Laurence - I'm told he's superb in that, my Bowie obsessed ex-lodger used to rave about it and the interplay between 'the Japanese General' and Bowie's character, unfortunately she never mentioned who played him.


And didn't Rutger Hauer star in some kind of bland Zatoichi rip-off?

Blind Fury, which the 'movie connections' link on IMDB says is a remake of a 1967 Zatoichi film.
 
graylien said:
Rather OT, but I was a bit disappointed when the blind swordswoman in House of The Flying Daggers turned out not to be blind after all. I don't know why - I just was.
Oh thanks, I'm just watching it now. Spoiler warnings would be nice.
And didn't Rutger Hauer star in some kind of bland Zatoichi rip-off?
I liked Blind Fury. Most of it anyway. Some of the sentimental crap with the kid was pretty bad.
 
For people who enjoyed the Zatoichi remake they should check out Azumi - its currently on sale at Play.com:

www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=tit ... tle=175421

IMDB:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0384819/

I'd read some variable reviews of it but as the price is slashed in the summer sales I thought I'd give it a go as it is by Ryuhei Kitamura, the director of Versus who seems to be having a great old time reworking classic Japanese film genres (largely the jidai geki / chambara films but also kaijiu with Godzilla: Final War) and this is a more traditional take on the samurai movie but only compared to Versus - it is a manga adaptation and so is suitably excesive (I think it has just been released in the West folling the popularity of the film) ;)

The majority of the cast are young but they carry off the fight scenes and acting well although the lead doesn't really convey the serious moral dilemmas well. And it has one of the most outrageously camp villians ever seen on film (although common in anime and manga) who still manages to project barrel loads of menace despite being so over the top.
 
Oh boy - how about this then: "Zombieichi, the blind dead swordsman". OK thats not its official title but feel free to call it "Shin kaidan zangyaku hidô: onna keiji to ratai kaibôki" if you like. Zombies, mad scientists and ninjas - I'm so there.

All details (with links to stills and the trailer - which contains mild nudity and lots of really low budget effects - you don't even get to see Zonbiichi in the trailer!!):

www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002716.html
 
Anome_ said:
And didn't Rutger Hauer star in some kind of bland Zatoichi rip-off?
I liked Blind Fury. Most of it anyway. Some of the sentimental crap with the kid was pretty bad.

I've been trying to get hold of Blind Fury on DVD for some time now, but I don't think it's still available. Does anyone know where I might pick up a Region 2 copy?
 
ArthurASCII said:
Anome_ said:
And didn't Rutger Hauer star in some kind of bland Zatoichi rip-off?
I liked Blind Fury. Most of it anyway. Some of the sentimental crap with the kid was pretty bad.

I've been trying to get hold of Blind Fury on DVD for some time now, but I don't think it's still available. Does anyone know where I might pick up a Region 2 copy?

I don't think there is currently one out. Even eBay doesn't bring up anything:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/blind-fury-dvd

Its cheap as chips via R1:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002YL ... enantmc-20

I think my multiregional DVD player paid for itself within a month or so just from the savings you can get from importing R1 DVDs - its an option anyway.
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Oh boy - how about this then: "Zombieichi, the blind dead swordsman". OK thats not its official title but feel free to call it "Shin kaidan zangyaku hidô: onna keiji to ratai kaibôki" if you like. Zombies, mad scientists and ninjas - I'm so there.

All details (with links to stills and the trailer - which contains mild nudity and lots of really low budget effects - you don't even get to see Zonbiichi in the trailer!!):

www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002716.html

It now has a more official English title: The Naked and the Living Dead and an entry on the J-sploitation site:

www.gomorrahy.com/j-sploitation/maria-yumeno-zombie.htm

They also link to a trailer - downloading now not sure if it is the same one I've seen.
 
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