Zatoichi film review

certificate_18

ZATOICHI

With Zatoichi, Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano takes a change of direction and audaciously revives a hugely popular Japanese hero with a uniquely modern approach. Kitano remains best known in the West for such uber-violent gangster films as Hana-Bi and Brother, famous for their Peckinpah-like approach to screen violence. His new film, a period martial arts actioner with plenty of laughs, is only likely to increase his worldwide profile.

It was compatriot director Shintaro Hatsu that first brought Zatoichi to the Japanese public, and the film series spanned four decades. The central premise of a blind masseur wronging the rights of feudal Japan with his incredible sword skills fascinated fight fans in Okinawa and elsewhere for a grand total of 26 films until he was last seen in 1989.

Kitano not only directs the revival, but plays the title role as well. And this turns out to be a very good idea. His eye for sword fights is sharp and he gives the blind hero a certain sense of mysteriousness by deliberately placing him just outside of the centre of each scene's dialogue. He also plays him with his eyes permanently closed.

The plot concerns Zatoichi's arrival in a new town where he trades massages for a bed and food. However, gang warfare is sweeping the town and the locals live in fear of the bullying extortionists and their deadly ronin. But the gangs gradually diminish in number once the blind swordsman arrives, until only their notorious samurai remains.

It may sound slight but this is all told with a great deal of fun. In the first obligatory fighting scene, Zatoichi is confronted by bandits so inept at swordfighting they end up cutting their own limbs off. Later, Zatoichi mentors a local gambler who only succeeds in knocking himself out at any given time. Add in a couple of geisha killers and the fun only increases.

With frequent fight scenes that even Tarantino would now be envious of and a sense of humour to boot, it's one of the picks of recent martial arts films and for once is a film of the genre that doesn't take itself too seriously.