Zatoichi is a character that has gotten more than his share of screen activity in Japan through the years. Starring in a long list of movies and TV shows, the country can’t seem to get enough of the blind swordsman. The legend was re-imagined this past year when writer/director/star Takeshi Kitano brought “Zatoichi” to theaters.
The film’s plot involves a small town that finds itself bullied by numerous gangs of thugs. These same thugs are also battling each other for power over the town. Around this very “Yojimbo”-esque plot is a story of a brother and sister whose family was killed by one of the rival gangs and the siblings’ quest for revenge. To achieve this, the brother dresses up as a woman, and they masquerade as geishas.
The other story is of a ronin who takes up a position as a bodyguard for one of the gangs. He does this to help pay for the medicine his sick wife needs, despite her protests. In any normal samurai film, this character would likely end up the focus of the story and a hero by the end. His motivations are clear, his skill is unquestioned, and if it were for the appearance of Zatoichi, he would have led the gang to victory over its rivals. But that is not this story.
These two stories take up a major amount of the screen time. So where does Zatoichi fit in? For a character that is suppose to be the title character, he spends quite a bit of time off screen. There is absolutely no back-story for Zatoichi. No motivations are given for his character. We never learn why he does what he does. It is clear that Kitano had one purpose and one purpose alone for the blind swordsman: to kick ass and nothing else.
And boy, does he kick ass. The action scenes are far and away the highlights of the film, pumped full of arterial spraying. It is unfortunate that most of the blood is clearly based on CGI effects. Thankfully, editing, speed and clarity of the shots make the fights rock despite the lack of reality in the blood department. Kitano uses some of the shutter speed strobing (used in “Gladiator”) during the fights, just not to the same intensity. He also keeps the camera stationary, allowing movement to be easily and clearly understood.
Kitano does some interesting things with the film’s structure. For example, there is a scene about midway through the movie where the characters are sitting around and a montage of their thoughts plays out. From the sister character, we learn of what happened to their family and how they began their plan for revenge. Zatoichi, on the other hand, is thinking about fighting. Even in his daydreaming, this man is kicking ass, enforcing the idea that Kitano has no more use for Zatoichi than this simple task.
The transitions between these thoughts can be quite jarring, sometimes that is common through most of the movie. Like the lack of character motivation, the scenes tend to jump around a lot, with complete disregard for maintaining any sense of time in the film world. This style is more reminiscent of the narrative style of a Hong Kong film than of a Japanese film. The cinematography on the other hand is very Japanese, which with its longer take and slow, fluid movement doesn’t work completely work with the Hong Kong narrative style.
Another interesting stylistic feature is the scenes of farmers and peasants working in the field whose work forms a rhythm that borders on a becoming strange musical scene. The scenes seem to comment on the rhythm of the life for these people. The tone of these scenes changes as the movie progresses from melancholy to a full-out celebration dance sequence. If there is anything in the film people will have a problem with, it is these strange sequences. Kitano seems to have put them in the film to make sure no one takes it too seriously.
“Zatoichi” is not a perfect film, and not everyone will enjoy it. But if all you need is a fix on some bloody sword-swinging action, you can’t miss this.
Grade: B/C
