35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
unforgivable butchering of a masterpiece..., October 18, 2009
This review is from: The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
OK, let me get this straight: the disc comes with a documentary where the director of photography EXPLICITLY details how and why the director agreed to go with a desaturated color palette for this film. Unfortunately for him, the American version of this disc simply chose to ignore their wishes, saturating the color to make the film look "normal" for American audiences (since we are a bunch of neophytes who could not understand that the color was desaturated on purpose). Joe six-pack apparently also wants films that have been oversharpened, distorting the original film look. This, and not providing us with a high quality version of the original Japanese soundtrack (naturally that is reserved for the dubbed English version, since, again, American audiences cannot bother to read subtitles or care about hearing the original language of the film) make this version of the film on Blu-Ray a slap to the face of any discerning film lover.
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22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stick that up yer arthouse, June 23, 2004
Blending period drama, Shogun Assassin-style ultra-violence, comedy and Stomp-esque musical interludes, Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi" is probably the most audacious film to have come out of Japan so far this decade. Kitano - a former comedian who divides his time between gameshow appearances and producing violent gangster flicks - plays the eponymous hero, a blind but deadly samurai who gets off on gambling, chopping wood and putting wrongs to right. It's a masterful turn, and one that Kitano clearly relishes, twitching and chuckling to himself before dispatching enemies with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of his blade.
The plot centres around Zatoichi's battle against the local yakuza and their formidable samurai-for-hire (Ichi the Killer's Tadonabu Asano). There are showdowns aplenty and, when they do come, they're nothing if not spectacular. Digitally-enhanced, cartoony and extremely violent (think: severed limbs and gallons of blood aplenty), the fights are likely to polarise audiences almost as much as the film's climactic, er, tapdance sequence.
In between, we get a revenge drama involving a cross-dressing geisha, a wannabe samurai who charges around wearing little but armour and what looks like a nappy, slapstick galore and numerous musical interludes. In a similar vein to Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, Kitano draws his soundtrack from ambient noises - as Zatoichi wanders, sightless, through the fields, the sounds of workers' hoes builds up into a natural rhythm. It's a cute effect, and one that's deftly employed here, compounding the sense that Zatoichi - though blind - is catching something that everyone around him misses.
What impresses most is how Kitano manages to draw such unlikely elements together and, moreover, make them work so well. I can think of few directors capable of flitting from slapstick to bloodbath, or domestic tragedy to musical setpiece, as convincingly or effortlessly. Even the aforementioned tapdance number, and a lengthy flashback/musical piece midway through, make a curious kind of sense on a second viewing.
Being a Japanese-language film, this one will inevitably get only a limited audience. Those who do make the effort, however, are in for a treat. It wouldn't be overstating the case to say that you've never seen anything quite like this before.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Takeshi Kitano Ups The Ante Yet Again, August 12, 2004
"Zatoichi" the old series is considered as movies for the blokes. The storyline is rather straight-forward: a Robin Hood of small villages during the Edo period, dispensing his kind of street justice against the yakuzas with vengeance instead of robbing the rich to give to the poor. There's never any subplots such as love interest, or trying to elaborate further what made him the person that he is or what made him blind at the first place. He's simply an enigmatic blind masseur who trekked from village to village and who's got a rather lethal skill that would come in handy when he needs it. When Takeshi Kitano took over the helm for this project, I am curious what kind of spin would he put to the original "Zatoichi". As we all know too well, sometimes, the changes to the original are so dramatic that towards the end, we can only say that the new series is "inspired" or "loosely based" upon the original. I'm truly gratified and satisfied that the new version of "Zatoichi" hasn't lost its original humour. Takeshi plays a rather good "Zatoichi" and his natural constant twitch to his face made him look rather menacing and intimidating. The storyline is simple enough: he befriends two geisha girls whose family is obliterated by a yakuza gang when they were young. As a result, being victim of circumstances, they resort to rob the unsuspecting men & looking for their killers to seek revenge. Zatoichi makes this his mission and responsibility to hunt those people down. Along the way, yakuzas of two factions are fighting one another off. Zatoichi also befriends a gambler who's constantly out of luck and he's obviously the comic relief for this movie. Then, there's a ronin (masterless samurai) who plays the tragic victim. He works for the yakuza for the money to look after his ill-stricken wife. In the end, he would have a final showdown with Zatoichi. The conclusion is predictable anyhow. Then, there's also the final confrontation between Zatoichi and the ultimate yakuza mastermind whose identity remains a secret until the very end. All the blood, gory, B-grade violent sequences, revelation of the true villain are all utilised in Kill Bill franchise. For those that want to know where and how Quentin gets his inspiration, this is a good opportunity. The final scene is where all actors and actresses come altogether to do a tap dancing sequence mimicking the village celebration of ridding of the bad elements by Zatoichi! You can say that it is the Tokyo's version of "Stomp". Black humour comes aplenty. For those that are familiar with Takeshi Kitano's career, all the actors here (good and bad guys alike) are and have been working alongside with him since his early days, akin to Saturday Night Live crew in the States. This is not just a well-made movie but a well-gelled movie. Truly fun to watch. I guess what made this movie appealing to both the old and young generations would be Takeshi's talent in spotting what they can emphatise with themselves in this movie. Highly recommended.
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