- Also Known As:
- The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
- Year:
- 2003
- Country:
- Predominant Genre:
- Action
- Director:
- Outstanding Performances:
- Premiss:
- The blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
- Themes:
- Alienation
- Compassion
- Destiny
- Ethical Politics
- Friendship
- Loneliness
- Loyalty
- Personal change
- Redemption
- Self-expression
- Social class
- Totalitarianism
- Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
- Zatoichi series
- Review Format:
- Cinema
Zatoichi the Great
Superior movie about a blind swordsman in old Japan that sets the quality bar high for the entire Zatoichi series.
As usual with Takeshi KITANO, the blood flows freely while the movie is quite funny - in a self-parodic way: A homily on the virtues of really seeing rather than merely observing the world around us.
Moreover, it is a sad tale of orphaned children turning to prostitution to make a living and to provide them with the funds to take their revenge on the samurai who killed their parents. Here, the characterization is finely-wrought - yet Zatoichi himself remains too much of a mystery.
The Seven Brides for Seven Brothers finale is somewhat out-of-place, yet fits perfectly!
Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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