Customer Reviews

Zatoichi 24 - Zatoichi in Desperation

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have about 20 Zatoichi movies, and this one is quite a departure.
It's far darker and grittier than the others. Less humor, but more drama and trauma. But, fear not, the expected carnage; red geysers, flying body parts.

Starting with Ichi accidently contributing to a grandmother's death, going through torture and deaths (beatings, sex abuse, suicide) of children, vividly abused prostitutes, to Ichi's torture and subsequent violent revenge, it stands apart.

Even the music and editing seem experimental. Very 70's. I suspect actor/director/producer Katsu Shintaro was trying to be Michelangelo Antonioni (BLOW UP) or Richard Lester (HELP!).

For Z-collectors, this may be a must. For newcomers, maybe it's a bit harsh.
I knocked off a star because although it was a noble departure/experiment, it
often went a bit too far. I look forward to reading others' opinion on this one.

This Zatoichi movie is not THAT good!!!
because:
* No awesome moves by Shintaro Kaysu (Zatoichi).
* No action until the ending.
* Zatoichi fight with his hands tied to the swordcane all the time except in the beach scene.
* The ONLY good thing is the BEAUTIFUL colors of the movie!!!

Thank you for lisen.

This fits in with another reviewers opinion. In a word, it is quite disappointing. I am a huge fan of the ZATOICHI film series. I have pretty much seen most of them, and watched them in order starting with the first one (great film) and had not seen this one, which is numbered 24 in the series, till now. "Zatoichi in Desperation" was directed by Shinataro Katsu (Zatoichi), and while I admire his work as an actor greatly, I found this film to be possibly the worst of the series I have seen. Very poorly directed I'm afraid to say. The story is incredibly weak and the characters barely sketched out. I'd have to say this is only for Zatoichi fans, who want to see every film regardless but you will likely be disappointed in this one, as I was. As people here say it is "dark" -- dark even in the literal sense; many scenes are shot quite dark with few lights which makes it hard to see. I imagine this was seen as "artistic" but its not. The very opening of the film also has a dreadful "artsy" montage of the death of a character, with every bad editing device popular in bad 70's movies, like flash frames, super fast cuts, etc. to show a characters death. This little montage is repeated again later in the film. Then a third time! As bad as it was the first time, by the third time its painful. What was Katshu-shin thinking? Oh well. In summation, only watch this film if you feel you must see EVERY film in the series just so you can say you did. Compared to the heights of the best films in the 26 film series -- take your pick -- mine might be ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO, which paired Shintaro Katsu with Toshiro Mifune (!) reprising his role as "Yojimbo", this Zato film simply pales in comparison. Oh Ichi-san!

I must start off saying that Zatoichi is my favorite series, BUT this one was the worst. Not because of the plot - it was ok, not because it was dark - I like changes, it was because of the camera direction - it was all over the place, placement was terrible, movement was terrible, it made my head spin. It was the first time my bro watched the series and I had to convince him the ones before it were a 1000 times better, and I was hoping the ones to come got better as well. My favorite was #17. The others are hard to order because they are all very good. My only problem with the series as a whole was that they recycle many dead bad guys and bosses. I suppose they were the only ones available in budget because of training or acting ability? I would suggest to any newcomers to get #17, or #1 to start. I was hooked after 1 and 2 and Netflixed them all; from 3 on it is even in color and the production is amazing whether in black and white or not (except this one). It would be interesting to see this movie modernized (and the US version of a blind vietnam veteran is not what I'm talking about).

Many of my friends have commented that this is one of their least liked episodes of Zatoichi. It definetly departs significantly from any of Shintaro Katsu's previous Zatoichi episodes. This entry, which was directed by Shintaro Katsu, is very, very dark and a bit disturbing. Especially when contrasting this episode with Shintaro Katsu's earlier episodes. Missing is much of the humor that one finds with the previous Zatoichi episodes.

For those new to Zatoichi, I would recommend watching his earlier episodes; and in fact, by starting from Shintaro Katsu's first episodes in chronological order. In this way one can see how the character Zatoichi progressed throughout the years the series ran. Many of the episodes are great, if not greater than many of the so-called Samurai Masterpieces of cinema. Just look at "Festival of Fire" to name just one episode.

In this entry, Zatoichi accidently causes the death of an old woman on a bridge. She was on the way to see her daughter. Feeling responsible for the death of this woman, Zatoichi attempts to locate the womans daughter. He finds out that the daughter works in a brothel as a prostitute. Her name is Nishikigi [Kiwako Taichi]. Zatoichi attempts to buy her freedom, but things get a little strange from here. This is the dark part of the film. Things do not go very well for Zatoichi.

Zatoichi is beaten up and tortured in a very horrible way. [I will not give this part away] Also, unlike past episodes, Ichi is OVER-ABUSED in a very rough manner: as the evil men he is up against are much darker and vile as in his previous episodes. Never fear however, Zatoichi does exact vengeance on those who cross him. The cinemantography is great as usual. However, this episode may not be to the liking of many viewers, other than die hard Ichi fans. Recommended. [3.5 STARS]

I still give this one five stars , because it is part of What they are outlining as Zatoichi's life and the fact is that he can't see what is going on around him but we can , so with that in mind you can only imagine the reallness that this movie in particular adds to the saga. I will say that I was surprised, as was the friend I watched it with . It is quite a depressing story by itself and I would not reccomend it being the first Zato you veiw but if you choose to don't say I did not warn you. This story in general touchs on the very essence of others and mainly Zatoichi because he is caught up in this huge mess and can't see, so you kind of sit there and feel for him but are helpless, It's really quite ironic , I mean, these are some bad people he's dealing with . I think this one outlines the really really really bad side of human nature that we seldom deal with or see in such an emotional way that is why this movie in particular comes off as quite intrusive to the viewer, it left me scratching my head and kind of quiet like. I will say that the picture sound and overall look of the dvd is outstanding as are all of the Animeigo labeled ones. Perfect.

Sometimes, we all would like an advanced NOTICE or WARNING before certain films are considered, produced and then sold for public consumption, this my friends is one of those films. Seeing more than 20 or so Katsu films has spoiled me, There I was, taking those journeys along with Zatoichi Ichi while making me feel like one of the family and at times one of his trusted friends, visiting the villages, getting to know the local bosses and their underlings or as Ichi would call them 'minions' and known to us as Yakuza there was a connection or perhaps a bond between me and that cast of characters. I had an emotional tie to all involved. This film abandoned all of those safe,secure and nurturing qualities. This film told thru the eyes of Shintaro Katsu is brutal, savage and relentless in it's attack on humanity, I wish Katsu had warned me that he would stray from utilizing the films previous Directors, Akira Ifukube music score and various other writing contributors that made all of his other films so successful and leaving you with a good feeling as oppossed to the hopeless dread that I felt after watching this film. I did enjoy this film which portrayed sighted people as barbaric and unsympathetic infact this film made all of his other films seem like a piece of cotton candy. Thank you Zatoichi, rest in piece.

Dark, gritty, bloody, with sex scenes and torture. Not a very nice film. Which is kind of weird to say about a series of movies filled with death and sword-fighting. But this movie misses any humor - it is as serious as you can get and not become something from PBS.
Zatoichi causes the death of a woman by accident and has to find her daughter to try to...well, do what? Ask forgiveness? Make up for her mother's death? This is Zatoichi in the gutter and something that really makes you wonder how the character can even live with himself after aall the events.
The film work itself, and the acting, is very good - it is just the subject and plot that makes the viewer feel unclean.