The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [Blu-ray] Review
The classic Japanese character of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, who has been featured in dozens of films over the past four decades, has been revitalized and brought to the screen by the phenomenally talented Takeshi Kitano (BATTLE ROYALE), who not only stars as the celebrated title character, but also serves as the film's writer and director as well. In THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, Zatoichi wanders into a small town that is being terrorized by a local gang who are extorting the locals and causing everyone to live in fear. Zatoichi encounters a woman who gives him shelter and he soon befriends her nephew that has a penchant for gambling. The two meet a pair of geishas and learn that they are following their own vendetta of personal vengeance and soon all are engaged in an epic battle against the Yakuza. When the gang leader brings aboard the incredibly skilled ronin Hattori Genosuke (Tadanobu Asano) to serve as his personal bodyguard though, Zatoichi may have finally met his match.
With Kitano's revamped imagining of the Zatoichi legend, audiences are treated to an incredible film that focuses on the subtleties of character as opposed to the broadness of scope that elevates the character into mythological proportions. Kitano's Zatoichi is constantly listening, letting himself become immersed in his surroundings to the point of blending into the background. His mannerisms are comprised of incredibly small and almost delicate movements when in a normal setting, but these are quickly juxtaposed with lightning fast and explosive movements whenever he fights. This dichotomy of movement that Kitano adopts for his Zatoichi is what creates a remarkably fascinating character and is of paramount importance to the centrality of the theme of the movie.
In THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI dualities are explored in all of the main characters, from the masks that the geishas must hide behind to conceal their identities, to the search to find the true clan boss, to the establishment of Hattori as not just an incredibly skilled swordsman, but one who is trying to regain his own honor. His character is one of the strongest in the film, and is played beautifully by Asano who instills a reserved façade of contained power into his portrayal. Working as a bodyguard for the local gang, he is never allowed to simply be seen as hired muscle or as a destructive force devoid of emotion. Kitano gives Hattori a sick wife at home that he must care for, and even though there is not much dialogue present in their brief scenes together, the audience will completely understand Hattori's motivations and will be immediately drawn into the development of his character and will in turn begin to empathize with him.
Further expanding on the theme of the containment of a reserved power lurking beneath the surface, the fight scenes in THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI are unlike any that have been seen before in the series. While most sword fighting scenes feature drawn out back and forth exchanges of attacks and parries, in THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, the scenes are incredibly short, focusing instead on delivering a lethal strike when the samurai sword is drawn. This creates an interesting visual dynamic within the film and imbues it with its own unique style. A character will explode with action, inflict the maximum amount of damage and then immediately contract again into the self. This expansion and contraction of the fighting when coupled with the explosiveness of the approach of dispatching with one's opponents in the quickest manner possible, creates some truly well choreographed fights throughout the film and serve to drive the action of the narrative brilliantly.
THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI is not without its flaws though. Two choices by Kitano to modernize the aesthetic of the film actually serve to undermine it. For the battle scenes, Kitano chose to add in CGI blood spurting out whenever someone is cut by a sword. This alone would have been fine, adding a distinctive visual flair to the picture, but Kitano takes it one step too far by adding in CGI swords in some moments. CGI sword tips are seen sticking out the other side of someone when they are impaled, or are seen flying through the air when a sword is thrown at someone. The fact is, the CGI in these short shots becomes distracting, and had Kitano opted to stick with physical effects to achieve the same shots, the visual result would have been more congruent with the rest of the film. Also, Kitano chose to include a tap dancing number, something that is normally not seen in a period piece set during the Edo period. While definitely a bold choice by the filmmaker, this too becomes more of a distraction than adding anything to the final product.
These flaws are only minimal criticisms though for an otherwise brilliant film. With its development of character and focus on showing the duality of human nature and the masks individuals choose to hide behind, and coupled with inventive fight choreography, THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI definitely ranks as a classic and a must see in the samurai genre.
For the Blu-ray release, there is a wonderful forty minute documentary highlighting the making of the film with lots of behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast and filmmakers. There is also a section of video interviews where crew members such as the cinematographer or the swordmaster each individually talk about some of the challenges they faced while shooting the movie. All in all some great bonus features that help give some good insight into the making of the remarkable movie.
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [Blu-ray] Feature
- ISBN13: 0786936790597
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [Blu-ray] Overview
Inventive and bold, this film shines with pristine picture and theater-quality sound on Blu-ray Disc. In an empire ruled by fear, the people's only hope is the ultimate weapon: Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano) -- a blind, nomadic samurai whose sword has made him a hero and whose courage has made him a legend. Determined to help the desperate residents of a village, Zatoichi seeks justice through revenge. It's a wildly entertaining film that's even more brilliant in Blu-ray High Definition.
Bonus Features Include: Behind-The-Scenes Special, Exclusive Interviews With Crew
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [Blu-ray] Specifications
Takeshi Kitano, the Japanese actor-director best known in the U.S. for his quirky, ulraviolent gangster movies (Fireworks, Brother, Sonatine) applies his off-kilter sensibility to the samurai genre in The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi. A blind masseur (Kitano with his hair dyed white) wanders into a small town divided up by rival gangs. Though hunched and shuffling, Zatoichi soon reveals his deadly skills as a swordsman. He befriends a pair of geisha girls with secrets of their own and helps them hunt down the bandits who killed their parents. But one of the gangs has just hired a ronin, a masterless samurai, whose fighting skill may equal the blind swordsman's. Zatoichi mixes a melodramatic storyline, deadpan comedy, and dazzling, CGI-enhanced swordfights into a supremely entertaining package. In Japan, Zatoichi is a recurring character in popular action movies, but Kitano places his own unique stamp on the series. --Bret Fetzer
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