Zatoichi
Zatoichi. It’s a movie now shown in Japan and it tells the story of a blind masterless samurai. The director is Kitano Takeshi. Though this movie is a remake, it won four prizes at the international movie festival in Venice. One of my friends has seen it and recommended it to me. I really want to see it. How about you?
Well, I’m not advertizing. Just curious.
Comments
graham :: September 11, 2003
I’m hoping to find an English subtitled version, and check out Beat’s blond haired samurai.
Should be an interesting contrast (!) to Tom Cruise’s upcoming “Last Samurai”. If you’re in the mood for more blind swordsplay, check out the action (with a bit of comedy) “Blind Fury”. Not a great film but…
Finally on the topic of films, did anyone see “Gojoe” from 2001-ish? The trailer looked great, but I never got to see it.
graham :: September 11, 2003
One thing I forgot there, is that I too am not a massive Takeshi fan, however, I do think he brings in people to Japanese cinema - which is wheezing its way toward the grave in some ways - so that is a good thing. I bought “Hanabi” and have to say that it was one of the most depressing films I’d ever seen, and yet at the same time, showed a side of Japan (admittedly in extremity) that many westerners raised on the ‘Sony and Anime’ diet of Japan may not know about. Japan isn’t products, it’s people. Love or hate the man and his work, I respect that he still pushes to get his work out there.
Well, I’ve never seen Kitano’s works. From what I heard, Zatoichi is a little bit different from his other works. It includes musical parts. For example, the sounds made by carpenters are rhythmic. I feel like seeing it because of this. You know, in a Samurai movie, people tap-dance. Isn’t this attractive?
Jason :: September 14, 2003
That film looks interesting. Can you suggest any other decent Japanese directors/films for an out of the loop American?
Today, I did see Zatoichi with my friend and this is the first time I saw one of Kitano’s films. I think Zatoichi is a very interesting film because it is a kind of comedy. Also, the sound track plays an important part in creating a funny atmosphere. That’s it for the moment. I’ll say more after you’ve seen it.
graham :: September 15, 2003
A lot of people try to point westerners at Anime and such, but there’s a wealth of other decent Japanese films - The Returner (www.returner.net) was fairly good, and Kurosawa’s films are generally good - Yojimbo is my personal favourite. This year’s Dragonhead got a lot of good press (I haven’t managed to see it yet). As I mentioned before, I saw half of Gojoe in Japanese, and would love to see the whole subtitled version - seemed very interesting.
I read in Alex Kerr’s ‘Dogs and Demons’ that the Japanese film making studios are having real problems adapting to new technology (although as someone who works in the IT business here I can tell you it’s not just those companies) and dropping their old franchises, some of which have rehashed the film more than the Bond series. However, there are some decent films starting to come out, but as I understand it, as in some many industries here, the studios also have a lot of influence over the cinemas for distribution, so it’s hard for small film makers to get their films out (this is true in most countries now in my opinion).
Another thread might be on the quality of cinemas and the prices they charge!
Hey. I saw Zatoichi last weekend. It was nice. It was a comedy but had a story. But I won’t tell the details!
Well, about Dragonhead, I don’t want to see it though I like the actor who plays a main role. When I was a high school student, I read its original. And I felt very bad. It was really grotesque.
Other good directors or movies? As Ruedi says, Miyazaki is one of the great directors in Japan.
Jason :: September 16, 2003
Thank you for the tip. Akira Kurosawa is one of my favorites. There are only a couple of his movies I haven’t seen. ‘Ran’ got me hooked on him. ‘Dreams’ was amazing and I have found most Westeners do not like that film. They’re nuts.
I like anime, but I prefer live actors and cinematography.
Simona :: October 17, 2003
I have heard about Kitano, but I have never seen one of his movies! What a pity!! I’d like also to see that japanese movie (you can see here), but I can’t because it isn’t here in Italy and I can’t understand Japanese.
MAKE NO MISTAKE! SHINTARO KATSU ALLWAYS WAS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE ONLY ZATOICHI WORTH TALKING ABOUT! 26 FILMS!100+ T.V.EPISODES! THE MAN WAS A MASTER. NOW,HAVING SAID THAT,I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING TAKESHI’S VERSION OF THIS FILM ICON! IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THE ORIGINAL FILMS, RUN AND GET THEM NOW. HAVE FUN!!!!
Rev. Antonio Hernandez :: December 21, 2003
Greetings,
Personally I’ve never heard of this crazy fellow who’s remaking Zatoichi, but I’m DYING to see it. Am an old Katsu-shin-Sama fan, an old OLD Kurosawa-Sama fan. Deeply indebted to Mifune Toshiro-Sama too. Try getting yer eyeballs on Kurosawa’s “Sanshiro Sugata”, a semi-factual film about one of the first finest Judo students in history. Buddha Bless You!
Rev. A. Hernandez :: January 4, 2004
Buddha Bless You Rudolph and All,
Thanks for the welcome- I am sorry I missed here but have been very busy.
Anyone interested: ZATOICHI 2003 will be released in America 4-JUNE this year. In britain I think release is set for MARCH.
I have been reading about the end of the film when Zatoichi opens his eyes for some reason. I won’t spoil the surprise, but it sounds really good. I don’t know why people are complaining about that.
Now as to the tap-dancing… hmmmmm. A KOAN?
Rev. Antonio Hernandez :: January 7, 2004
Hi All, Buddha Bless You, Hello Rudolph,
Did anybody realize that Shintaro Katsu was slated to play the lead inKurosawa’s “Kagemusha”? I was stunned to learn that recently. However, it seems Katsu-shin-Sama was unable to do it due to other commitments.
Fans of any and all things mentioned here, e-mail me anytime at suriak@yahoo.com and thanks.
Rev. A. Hernandez :: January 7, 2004
Buddha Bless You,
Someone from France has beaten me to the punch unless he borrowed my information- about the U.S. release of Zatoichi 2003. He has claimed it will be butchered by Miramax, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of these companies butcher the foreign movies.
For release date confirmation, go to:
www.thefilmasylum.com/database/z/zatoichi/zatoichi.htm
It’s weird looking, but follow it exactly or you’ll be lost. Otherwise just go to the film asylum.com and search.
WHEN AM I GOING TO GET TO SEE THIS FILM?
I wasn’t aware the film hadn’t been released yet in the West until, a few days ago, I picked up a preview magazine in a Swiss movie theatre and saw it advertised there.
Tapdancing as koan? Hmmm — maybe he simply needed to toss in some “postmodern playfulness” to distinguish the movie from the original Zatoichi television show featuring Shintaro Katsu?
Rev. Antonio Hernandez :: January 9, 2004
Buddha Bless You,
They like to pull these stunts on us in America, and many fear the distributor, MIRAMAX, will completely ruin this film.
I don’t see how a distributor can do that, they did not seem to have editing rights as far as I know.
Not having seen the film, I don’t know if the dancing is kung-an (koan) or not. Since the piece is supposed to be jidaigeki chambara, a period samurai piece, I can’t see why else the dancing would be in there.
Of course, I have heard that Kitano is a weird person…
Commenting on this entry is closed.
Not much of a movie-goer myself, I’ve never seen any of Kitano’s films. But I once read a Time magazine article which celebrated him as a true badass.
And I’ve just seen him on television, scratching the back of his head while stepping up to the stage, then receiving a couple of amazingly ugly trophies. This made me wonder what people who receive these things actually do with them. Display them on a bookshelf? Yeah, right.
Back on topic, there’s a discussion over at Kurt’s place about the merits of Kitano’s works. Kurt isn’t all that impressed and a couple of people agree.