Zatôichi kenka-tabi (1963)'s comments

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nbats

https://youtu.be/Fakq-abfa_s

1 year 10 months ago

In the 5th film of the series, Zatoichi on the Road, Ichi promises to escort a young woman under threat to her family home in Edo, even as yakuza gangs try to involve him in a gang war, whether he wants to or not. Both he and the girl become pawns in a dangerous and convoluted game, and for extra trouble, the wife of a man Ichi righteously killed tries to get her own revenge by meddling in his mission. This is the first of these movies not to fit the continuing narrative, and features no returning characters from previous chapters. As a one-off, it works fairly well, even if it sometimes remixes elements from the first couple films, and there color palette under director Kimiyoshi Yasuda is a touch more colorful. The director also manages to give us a strong impression of the blind swordsman's speed by matching it to a dragonfly's quick bounce. Ichi is pushed to the edge in some scenes, breaking his clownish facade more than is usual, but if we look at this as a continuum, it seems warranted. He's been through a lot and a lot of deaths weigh on his conscience. When he thinks he's found a port in the storm, he gets betrayed and pushed out to sea again. We can also see his reputation grow so that now he can play an intimidation game with the villains, and that's fun.

3 years 10 months ago

mcmakattack

The worst Zatoichi film so far. What the heck are they doing with the character in this movie? The blind swordsman went from being a quirky masseur/gambler with a heart of gold to someone rash and fumbling. The scene of him trying to beat up a woman because she "took advantage of a blind man" is not in character with the Zatoichi from earlier installments. On top of that the writing is subpar with clunky dialogue and a plot that leads nowhere. One redeeming element is more focus on the subjectivity of Zatoichi's blindness, especially during some key fights (dragonfly on a branch, enemies splashing in water). Hopefully this isn't a trend moving forward with the adventures of Zatoichi

4 years 1 month ago