"Zatoichi": Comedy, violence and clog dancing
It's probably a bit churlish to withhold effusive praise from a dynamic samurai action movie that won five Japanese Academy Awards, but is "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" really as good as all that? If you're a fan of the genre and have been working your way through the many vintage "Zatoichi" films now available on DVD, then the answer is a resounding "yes," and Takeshi Kitano's frequently amusing contribution to the "Zatoichi" legacy is probably going to knock your socks off.
If you're unaware that 26 immensely popular "Zatoichi" films were produced in Japan between 1962 and 1989 — all starring the late Shintaro Katsu — followed by a long-running TV series, you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. Even more than Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films, which were clearly more accessible to Western viewers, Kitano's affectionate riff on "Zatoichi" is aimed squarely at a samurai-literate audience, and its appeal beyond that is probably limited.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kitano's stature as a pop icon, kids' TV favorite, stand-up comedian, respected filmmaker and cult-favorite star brings a lot of charismatic appeal to the proceedings. As the itinerant, blind masseur Zatoichi, the 57-year-old Kitano doesn't just revitalize the franchise but partially reinvents it. He turns Katsu's peasant-class swordsman "Blind Ichi" into a flashier, classier, more whimsical bowlegged blond, just as deadly but quicker with a smile. Rarely have comedy and violence kept such comfortable company.
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The movie itself is lighter, too, at times qualifying as a makeshift musical. Several scenes are synchronized to the Stripes, a dynamic clog-dancing troupe that appears at regular intervals to punctuate the action with syncopated style, especially during the film's celebratory finale.
Where this "Zatoichi" falls short, unfortunately, is in Kitano's choppy, rather undisciplined approach to telling a familiar 19th-century samurai tale. Having found lodgings with an amiable peasant woman and a haven for casual gambling (listening closely to the tumbling dice, he always wins), Zatoichi soon learns that a turf war is erupting between two feudal clans, and that a third, more powerful clan is poised to dominate with the help of Hattori (Tadanobu Asano), a ruthless ronin assassin. When a pair of geishas (one a transvestite) seek Zatoichi's services after the slaughter of their family, the blood begins to flow. And spurt. And flow some more.
Indeed, the present vogue of arterial showers and cleanly severed limbs is well served here, and what the ratings board defines as "strong, stylized bloody violence" is arguably an enhanced kind of realism. As comic as Kitano's action may be at times, it's also uncompromising and surgically precise. We can be grateful that Kitano draws the line at decapitation, but everything else is fair game, and the CGI violence (despite too-rapid editing) is at times shockingly impressive.
It's too bad, then, that Kitano's above-average action is compromised by disorienting flashbacks and unnecessary detours, when a straightforward chronology would've served this story better. For Kitano's legion of fans and samurai connoisseurs, this won't matter a bit. As it is, Kitano's versatility is its own reward; "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" has a bit of everything, and that's probably just as well.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net