Tribeca Film Festival Review: Zatoichi

Truth be told, Filmbrain had some doubts when he first heard that Takeshi Kitano was going to do a Zatoichi film. The original films, while certainly entertaining, were never really anything that special. A remake, even by Kitano, would still be the blind swordsman helping somebody in distress. Doubting Kitano was a huge mistake. Filmbrain first encountered Kitano in Nagisa Oshima's 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence, where he played a cruel but sympathetic Sergeant in a Japanese POW camp -- a role (and a film) that Filmbrain still cherishes dearly. His first three features as director revealed just how versatile he was -- a straight-up vigilante cop film (Violent Cop), a comic-Yakuza thriller (Boiling Point), and a deaf-surfer-in-love story (A Scene at the Sea). He never settled into one genre -- lucky for us -- and he began to develop touches and flourishes that became his trademarks. With each film, his characters got richer and more complex, and he became the master at seamlessly melding comedy, violence, and drama (often of a heartwarming nature). In the wrong hands, a film like Kikujiro (Filmbrain's personal favorite) would be a Robin Williams/Haley Joel Osment nightmare. Filmbrain was one of the few who genuinely loved Kitano's last film, 2002's Dolls. Perhaps the intertwined tales of lost loves was a bit overly sentimental at times, but the sheer beauty of the film made up for that. The image of the two lovers endlessly wandering, a red cord forever joining them, stays with you for ages. Kitano has stated in several interviews that he wasn't quite satisfied with the result -- that he failed to deliver on what he had set out to do. It's unlikely he feels the same way about Zatoichi.

There's an incredible lightness to Zatoichi that adds to its charm. Rather than getting bogged down in the details of doing a period film (his first), Kitano instead chose to have a good time. And it shows. All throughout the film it seems that the cast were simply having a lot of fun -- so much, in fact, that they felt the need to dance about it. The story is quite simple -- Zatoichi, a blind masseur and excellent swordsman, shows up in a small town, gets involved in the lives of many of its members, and helps right wrongs. There are siblings seeking revenge on those that massacred their entire family, townsfolk being bullied by gangsters, and rival clans out to do each other in. In other words -- a typical Zatoichi plot. With the storyline on autopilot, Kitano is free to explore the nuances and details of the town, all while nicely developing a handful of characters. (Kitano is ever superb with his use of flashback -- Robert McKee be damned!) Comedic scenes are kept to a minimum, but as usual are extremely funny. The film maintains a slow but deliberate pace, much like Zatoichi himself. Action sequences (with their intentional excess of CGI blood) arrive just at the right moments. Keiichi Suzuki's lively and cotemporary score blends nicely into the film, and there are some synchronized scenes with the music that put Filmbrain in the mind of Dancer in the Dark. (Phyrephox at Milk Plus cleverly refers to the film's entire soundtrack as a form of diegetic hip-hop. Nice!) As for the tap-dancing extravaganza that closes the film -- Filmbrain was going to get deep into PoMo dissection mode, formulating its place in the period film, but then he thought.....screw it, it's just so much fun, why ask why? Filmbrain is amazed that Miramax is giving this a proper release. Harvey Scissorhands isn't trimming a frame, they're not going to dub it with Billy Bob Thornton and Claire Danes, and they're not replacing the score with Fatboy Slim tunes. Did Harv really dig the film, or was it pressure from Quentin? The question remains -- will they do a wide release, or will it play only in selected cities? Either way, seek it out when it comes to your town. It's the most fun you'll ever have with a blind blond masseur-swordsman. [NB: In the interest of full-disclosure, Filmbrain did not see this at the Tribeca Film Festival, due to the fact that he was deathly ill with some sort of stomach parasite. In agony and suffering, he sacrificed his ticket and watched it on DVD so that he may bring you this timely review.]

Comments

[rose]

I happened to see it just after Kill Bill I (Kitano has been well distributed in Italian theaters since Hana Bi - dubbed, unfortunately). And, Kitano's class just blew Quentin to bits for me...

[Filmbrain]

You know -- I was going to make mention of that in the review, but I've been accused of too much Tarantino bashing. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Marleigh]

Beat rules. Period.