Zatôichi no uta ga kikoeru (1966)'s comments

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nbats

https://youtu.be/RSvNlbO79JI

1 year 10 months ago

Zatoichi's Vengeance (not to be confused with Zatoichi's Revenge) has a heavier feel than many of the entries in the series, a deep sadness running through it. Ichi is once more asked to deliver something by a dying man, and finds himself embroiled in a village's troubles with the local yakuza boss (called Gonzo, it's hard to keep a straight face). His scheme is basically ransoming family members for debt, keeping all the businesses in a stranglehold. In this situation is the family of that dead man on the road, including a young boy who looks up to Ichi, and a sad prostitute (an effective performance by Mayumi Ogawa, I wanted even more of her character) for whom a samurai will risk all. Then there's a blind priest whose sensory powers are intriguingly the equal of Ichi's who instructs him on the effect he's having on the boy, and how he's setting the wrong example. This has Ichi trying to not fight back at crucial moments, and feel wretched when he must. Visually, I at first thought it was one of the weaker installments, on account of all the day-for-night (a method I despise), but the way it's used on the bridge scene, turning the drum fight into a kind of shadowplay against the white sky, is quite striking, so there's that.

3 years 9 months ago