Zatoichi
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Review by Jim Eadon
2004
Zatoichi is a Japanese Samurai action movie that is easy to watch and
yet quite profound at the same time. Read no more, go and see the movie.
This film strikes its pointy weapon right between the
deadlights.
Whoosh!!!!! [cue suspiciously bounteous sprays of blood]. The magic of
Zatoichi is in its invokation of guity desire to see the doddery old
man that is verily Zatoichi himself dole out the carvery treatment to
swathes of baddie gangsters.
Zatoichi is a symphonist, you see, and his orchestra is a cane, a stick
that conceals a cargo of glistening steel. Recent movies parade action
heros of the Keanu Reaves/Damon what's his name ilk. Pretty boys;
shallow yoofs; catastrophically implausible chicks are the modern
action stars that serve to drain one's enjoyment so intensely that one
craves to see them die horribly, and begrudges their inevitable
victories. Now Zatoichi is a guy that you cheer on with passion. He is,
in my opinion, the most watchable action hero since the golden days of
Schwartzenegger and Sean Connery Bond. It's curious how different from
one another these guys are, it goes to show that Hollywood's attempts
to assuage risk by blindly following cliche are gravely counter
productive.
Zatoichi in his blindness provides philosphy, he questions the value of
our senses. This may seem unorigional, but the original Zatoichi movies
stretch back a long way, so the heritage at least is innovative. Here
we have a playful representation of intriguing concepts: sensory
information can hinder or help, depending upon factors that are outside
of our experience. The great mathematical genius, Leonhard Euler, upon
losing the sight in an eye, declared his good fortune as "one less
distraction".
(I read an interesting mathematical fact recently, that mathematicians
like to name mathematical things after the first mathematician to
discover them *after* Euler!)
Admittedly Zatoichi would kill rather than prove things, as was Euler's
wont, such as "e" is an irrational number, but the former, though
vulgar, works better on film. Arguably.
There is something deeply beguiling about Zatoichi's handicap being the
source of his strength. One inferior Hollywood take on this idea was in
"The Phantom", a movie that can't hold a candle to Zatoichi's searing
neutron star. The Phantom has a dull pretty boy hero to enhance the
audience's abject misery.
In contrast Zatoichi inspires me to question life a little, and take up
the subject with people that are curious about the perplexing nature of
perception and identity. Sight is too precious to give up lightly. Pun
unintended. (My subconscious is to blame for that!). But Zatoichi can
tell us something about how to deal with loss in general. Have you been
deprived of a possession or bereaved in some way? Zatoichi infuses us
with the idea that from deprivation can come enlightenment. Not all bad
news can be compensated for perhaps, but in my life, it is amazing how
often I have cursed events with unrepeatable language, only to look
back and realise that I benefitted in some unlooked for fashion.
When I recall the Kill Bill movies I don't remember having
any thoughts
other than how much they sucked. They were quite simply empty, mildly
entertaining, but as far as inspiring any kind of life enhancement is
concerned, they fail. Great movies affect your opinions and though
Zatoichi is a relatively low brow movie, it still causes the mind to
slash at the criminal preconception within.
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely
gives away important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen
this movie and intend seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until
afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the movie, see if you agree with my
review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks
:-)
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There was something spell binding about the sight of Zatoichi hobbling
towards his foes with the tardy inevitability of the Reaper himself. It
was powerfully suggestive how younger men, so fleet of foot, were
doomed by a doddering oldie.
The musical boogie routine at the end was fun, like the daft jiving in
Bollywood flicks, but thankfully it is a mercifully short burst, just
the trick to soften the old spirits after all the slaughter.
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There are no more
spoilers below this point, except maybe in any user talkback comments.
End of spoilers
corner
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The old man pulls off a
climactic and skillful stunt: he bloodily dispatches the boss bandit
with his dentures.
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MadPole | Subject: | 2004-11-01 12:42:04 |
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