Film of the Week #46 - Zatoichi

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363226/

Little suprised to see this one win, but definitely happy about it, and it's great to see some more foreign films in there.

Takeshi Kitano's take on Zatoichi probably wouldn't be his best film, but it's a staggeringly enjoyable piece of work that I've watched multiple times myself, and never get bored of it. Like a lot of Kitano's films, there's always a lot going on, with many plot threads linking together, such as the bodyguard Hattori played by Tadanobu Asano, his storyline is amazingly detailed and could have easily constituted a film of it's own, but here it's all effortlessly weaved into a larger play of events.

This is all down to Kitano's genius, as he starred in, wrote, directed, and edited the film himself, he's certainly one of the most visionary film makers working today and gets across a fantastically engrossing story.

Absolutely fantastic film.

Discuss!

Feelgood

Here can you rent films like this in Xtra Vision?...

Never really seen a foreign film section in a video shop...and probably
wouldn't buy one in HMV or something for fear it would be pants....

Karl Hungus

Feelgood wrote: »

Here can you rent films like this in Xtra Vision?...

Never really seen a foreign film section in a video shop...and probably
wouldn't buy one in HMV or something for fear it would be pants....

Doubt you'd get it in Xtravision, but Laser would certainly have it.

It's definitely not pants though, I can assure you.

sme

yeah i'd agree as a samurai film its no kurosawa, but this is quite a good retelling of this classic tale. what struck me most about this film was the soundtrack ie. the melding/use of tool noises to make music, such as the field workers near the beginning or the harvest celebration. pure genius.

Feelgood

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Doubt you'd get it in Xtravision, but Laser would certainly have it.

It's definitely not pants though, I can assure you.

Ok cool, but don't BS on this next Q.....

Has it got subtitles?. Cause its just too darn hard to try and watch a movie and read at the same time....If I go out and watch this thing and its got subtitles, I'm just gonna have to come back here open a can of whoopass

johnny_ultimate

Feelgood wrote: »

Ok cool, but don't BS on this next Q.....

Has it got subtitles?. Cause its just too darn hard to try and watch a movie and read at the same time....If I go out and watch this thing and its got subtitles, I'm just gonna have to come back here open a can of whoopass

Yes subtitles all the way. Honestly, don't let it get in the way. You'll miss hundreds of great films (this included) if you disregard subtitles completely. I know some people just can't take subtitles, but if at all possible don't see it as a hinderance. I don't know if there is a dubbed version, saw it on Sky Cinema a year or two ago and it was definitely subbed anyway.

Again, I'd have to agree that it is a great film (the wonderfully surreal finale in particular) but not brilliant. I must revisit this sometime as since I first watched I have become a massive fan of all things Kitano - Dolls, Kikujiro, Hana Bi all blew me away. As good as Zatoichi is, with some terrific moments and direction, other moments seem a little dull. It's no Ran or Seven Samurai for sure, but what is? As it stands, a superior modern day drama (with surprisingly little - but still gruesome - violence) that is far more artfully handled than 90% of films out there.

Otis Driftwood

This movie rules and Kitano is a legend.
Xtravision should have it,its just a matter of digging around for it.
Thats where I saw it first anyway.


Slightly off topic but if you guys enjoyed this you should really seek out the lone wolf and cub movies.
For those that dont know about them they are a 6 movie series from Japan in the 70s.
Shogun Assassin is the first 2 movies in the series cut in half and spliced together.
They are absolutely brilliant although I was a bit disappointed how white heaven in hell (6th one) ended.
Nevertheless,they are a worthy addition to any fan of samurai movies.
I got the box set on ebay a couple of years ago and have watched em at least 5 times each.

kaimera

Excellent movie!

Only saw it a while back but blown away. Top notch.

Karl Hungus

sme wrote: »

yeah i'd agree as a samurai film its no kurosawa, but this is quite a good retelling of this classic tale. what struck me most about this film was the soundtrack ie. the melding/use of tool noises to make music, such as the field workers near the beginning or the harvest celebration. pure genius.

Yeah, well "No Kurosawa" isn't much of a criticism, Kurosawa is in a league of his own. But I think on his other films that Kitano is every bit as original, and groundbreaking an artist, it's just harder to compare a film like Sonatine to any of Kurosawa's masterpieces.

The soundtrack was fantastic too, it had some great musical flourishes, especially the end scene, supposedly used to evoke an older style of film.

Feelgood wrote: »

Ok cool, but don't BS on this next Q.....

Has it got subtitles?. Cause its just too darn hard to try and watch a movie and read at the same time....If I go out and watch this thing and its got subtitles, I'm just gonna have to come back here open a can of whoopass

Yes, it's subtitled.

I wouldn't knock subtitles either though, because quite honestly, when I'm engrossed in foreign a film, often times I don't even notice it's subtitled, I don't really make any conscious effort to read, it just kinda registers with me, if you follow?

And I'm someone who's dyslexic, I had quite a few learning problems when I was younger, yet subtitles never even phase me. I think for most people who dont watch subtitled films, it's a case of it seeming to take an effort, when in reality, it's pretty much as effortless as listening at the same time as watching.

ThOnda

I must say that I much much prefer subtitles to dubbing. You are loosing so much by dubbing - the intonation, the flow of the language... And a lot of background sounds and music.

Zatoichi - very very very good film. I saw it twice so far, but I know I want to see it again. A lot of surprises, great music composed to the film, and I am willing to say that it is very theatrical. I really do like more plots almost independent, but well connected. Asano got enough space to enrich the movie, not to make it Asano-blood-bath-movie.

Necronomicon

Excellent, excellent movie. Can't say enough good things about it.

Karl Hungus

Something I love about this, and other Japanese films, is that the swordfighting isn't stylised or portrayed as an elaborate dance, much like in Kurosawa's films where a swordfight would consist of a character making a single strike and cutting down his opponent. I much prefer this style of fighting compared to the balletic indulgences of films like Crouching Tiger or Hero.

ThOnda

Not to mention that all cuts with swords are animated in Zatoichi. Unbelieveable, but true.

Pugsley

Bout time we this one got up, fantastic film. Seen it for the first time about 6months ago, but there was no sub titles (oops), but even with that it was thoroughly enjoyable, the atmosphere and flow of the film is flawless, then I seen is last week on Channel 4, and it all made a lot more sense, great film, deserves FotW.

Also recommend Hana-bi, another recommendation from Karl, and another of Takeshi Kitano's, very very moving film, not in anyway an action film, but among the most poignient films I've seen, and he plays such a great lead despite only saying maybe a half dozen lines in the whole film.

Karl Hungus

Pugsley wrote: »

Also recommend Hana-bi, another recommendation from Karl, and another of Takeshi Kitano's, very very moving film, not in anyway an action film, but among the most poignient films I've seen, and he plays such a great lead despite only saying maybe a half dozen lines in the whole film.

I recommend pretty much all of Kitano's films, except Getting Any? which ain't great. But yeah, he's one of the most fantastic film-makers around, and Hana-bi would be one of his best, without a doubt.

I wonder, has anyone here seen the older Zatoichi films? Most of them aren't available on DVD unfortunately, but I've just got in my possession the 1989 Zatoichi, which was the last one with Shintaro Katsu, who had been the title character for all the 25 films before that.

Lands Leaving

Has the best ending ever as well. If you've seen it you know exactly what I mean, if you haven't, well its great!

Valmont

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Doubt you'd get it in Xtravision, but Laser would certainly have it.

It's definitely not pants though, I can assure you.

I got Zaitochi in Xtravision years ago, I'm sure it's still there in Greystones anyway

Necronomicon

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I wonder, has anyone here seen the older Zatoichi films? Most of them aren't available on DVD unfortunately, but I've just got in my possession the 1989 Zatoichi, which was the last one with Shintaro Katsu, who had been the title character for all the 25 films before that.

I saw a few in Laser when I was in Dublin a couple of years back. Kinda regret not getting one or two now.

Karl Hungus

Valmont wrote: »

I got Zaitochi in Xtravision years ago, I'm sure it's still there in Greystones anyway

Fair enough, maybe some of the larger stores might have a copy, but I'd say Laser would be a safer bet.

Necromomicon wrote: »

I saw a few in Laser when I was in Dublin a couple of years back. Kinda regret not getting one or two now.

There's 2 Zatoichi box sets released, containing 7 films altogether, which I'd be meaning to nab at some stage. It's still a pity that those 7 were the only ones ever released in the UK/Ireland market.

vasch_ro

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Doubt you'd get it in Xtravision, but Laser would certainly have it.

It's definitely not pants though, I can assure you.

actually you can rent it in xtravision I got it in the Greystones Branch recently they have a good foreign language section. ( I also rented 36, Cache)
I really enjoyed this film, the sword fighting is not to stylised and based on the efficent Kenjutsu stlye, its actually quite a quirky little film with little bits that pop up now and again which you would not think fit in ,and its quite funny in some parts, but it all meshes together very well, easily one of my favourite movies.