Adventures of Zatoichi (1964)

I guess children are the only ones who can show their faces to the sun without shame - Zatoichi

Nine films into the series and watching Zatoichi go through his paces is some how comforting. You know what you are getting and you know how its going to play out but you really don't care. Besides the twists and turns and colorful characters keep it all interesting.

Actually the really intriguing thing about the series is that unlike other series all are of a high quality. Almost without exception all of the films are enjoyable. There are no bad films in the bunch with the weaker films only seeming weak when compared to the rest of the run. When you compare the individual films films outside the series they tend to stand tall and tower over them.

This  time out Ichi is once more on the road. Given a note by a man on the road he heads into a town where he is to give a girl the message. It transpires that the man on the road has escaped from captivity and is the brother of the girl. He is wanted for murder.. At the same time Ichi promises to help a young woman try to find her father who went missing about the same time and place as the murder occurred. Everyone's plight is of course tied to the corruption in the town which has the local magistrate using gangsters to strong arm  the people.

One of the better films in the series is a real joy. Its a film that you want to curl up with and lose yourself in. By the time it was over I was ready not so much to move on to the next film in the series rather, I wanted to restart the film and watch it again.

As with all the Zatoichi film the film is full of great set pieces, from Zatoichi knocking everyone over on the stairs, to the gambling sequence where the house decided to go one on one with a blind sucker only to find he was on to their tricks, to the night fight in the woods, to the talk with the old man who could be Ichi's father...it's one great bit after another played out by some really great characters.

I really love this film a great deal...so much so I'm going to stop writing and go watch it again. I suggest you do like wise.

Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964)

Fight, Zatoichi, Fight may be my favorite movie title in the 26-film Zatoichi series, though that may be personal preference. The simple three-word imperative is so catchy (and note that the most important word is used twice). It's a title that sounds as if someone is rooting for something to happen. Fight, Zatoichi, Fight also reminds of some other movies that use the similar (verb) (pronoun) (verb) pattern: Scream Blacula Scream, Run Lola Run, and, of course, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. The Zatoichi film boldly dares to use commas.

Fight, Zatoichi, Fight is also one of my favorite films in the series so far. It tells a straightforward tale with an easy set up, it has its doses of broad comedy, and yet it's heartfelt throughout. That's three straight Zatoichi films that have stood out for me in a row, the previous two being Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold and Zatoichi's Flashing Sword. While the previous two entries were directed by Kazuo Ikehiro, Fight, Zatoichi, Fight was directed by Kenji Misumi, the director of the first Zatoichi film, The Tale of Zatoichi.

In a lot of ways, Fight, Zatoichi, Fight is yet another variation on the theme of doing good as a means of righting past wrongs (both in the here and now and in that cosmic/karmic sense). Zatoichi is pursued by killers looking to collect a bounty. This leads to the accidental death of an innocent mother with an infant in her arms. Zatoichi vows to take the baby back to its father in a distant village and to apologize for what's happened. During his noble journey, Zatoichi is pursued. There's gambling, there's a maybe-would-be love interest, and there's the usual pathos that Shintaro Katsu brings to his performance as the blind swordsman. Somehow the film negotiates these familiar contours and makes it feel special, and I don't think it's just the  inclusion of the cute kid. I think it's because every moment seems to matter a lot to Zatoichi.

The pathos seems upped a notch in this film, and a lot of that has to do with Katsu's continued refinement of his performance and his deeper understanding of Zatoichi. Katsu invests himself wholly in both the slapstick and the chivalry of this situation. He was a gangster, but now he's a knight on a quest; he's a hardened killer, but now he's also a parent figure/guardian. There's something about Zatoichi changing a diaper and killing assassins simultaneously that warms the heart. Again, here are the contradictions at work in the blind man's soul. This added pathos may also be thanks to Misumi's return to the series after two years. I look forward to seeing more of Misumi's future Zatoichi films just to see if he has a certain handle on the character as a director that Katsu has as a performer.

(Fight, Zatoichi, Fight sort of makes me think of Lone Wolf and Cub, even though Zatoichi and the little tyke here are by no means Ogami Itto and Daigoro. It's only 1964, so the first Lone Wolf and Cub manga by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima is still six years away. And yet a few key players in the film adaptations of Lone Wolf and Cub have played integral roles in the Zatoichi series. Katsu's older brother Tomisaburo Wakayama co-starred as the heavy in Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, and he would later go on to play Ogami Itto. Misumi, director of six Zatoichi films, would direct four of the six Lone Wolf and Cub movies. Katsu himself served as producer on the first three Lone Wolf and Cub films. This makes me want to research more about potential cross-pollination.)

What's surprising about Fight, Zatoichi, Fight are its little touches. Katsu's subtle gestures and hesitations are moving without being forceful. There's a tenderness in the character's heart, but it's one that can only be shown in fleeting glances. What seems like a throwaway gag in the opening credit has a strange resonance late in the film, which is constructed in cyclical manner much like the pattern of dark-to-light-to-dark in Zatoichi's life. Just consider what's in the way of Zatoichi's feet after a key moment near the end, and then think about the credits sequence that started the film. If this isn't an intentional callback, it's an all too fitting bit of bitter, melancholy serendipity.

A few words on some of Black Cross aka Knights of the Teutonic Order aka Krzyzacy (1960)

In prepping the Martin Scorsese Polish Film series at Lincoln Center I started to dig through my DVD collection and pulled out a few titles to get in the mood for the actual screenings. With my dad out of the house and the big screen in the living room free I made myself dinner and then sat down to watch some movies.

The first film I pulled from the stack was the import version of Black Cross which was titled  Knights of the Teutonic Order on the region 2 DVD and sat down to watch a three hour knights in armor epic from Poland.

Almost instantly I almost choked to death on my food...where is MST3K when you need them? I was awe struck and giggling from the get go. This tale of the Teutonic knights battling with a Lord who didn't like the idea of bowing down to them is the sort of thing that would have been badly dubbed into English and run at 3am on the late show. Yes it's spectacular but it's so silly.

What is this? The editing is disjointed, the plot jumps around and while there is a very real sense of seriousness it plays almost like a kids film.

Classic of Polish cinema? Oh please no. Who are these people and what are they doing? I don't know. To be certain it all looks spectacular but after 45 minutes I really didn't know what was going on. Actually I had the feeling I was watching the cliff notes version.

Two more hours of this? I think not. I turned it off. I'll try it again down the road but unless I can find something that makes the movie click I think my second attempt is going to be much like this first one- short and sweet.

Zatoichi's Flashing Sword (1964)

There's a special kind of cowardice to shooting a man in the back, particularly a blind man. Unless that man is Zatoichi. If you haven't watched any of the films in the series, the pre-credits sequence of Zatoichi's Flashing Sword shows why a gun may be the best weapon against the blind swordsman. Zatoichi is asleep, sweaty, and pestered by flies. The people in the room look on expectantly. Perhaps they're plotting to rob him like others have tried in the past, or perhaps Zatoichi's reputation has preceded him and everyone is just watching--like the audience of Zatoichi's Flashing Sword--wondering what he'll do next. Zatoichi wakes up and nonchalantly cuts at the air. Three dead flies fall to the ground, and in doing so set the tone for the film: this one's going to be kind of zany, at least until it's not anymore; at a certain point, human life is worth as much as a fly's.

(The previous film, Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, did the same sort of mood-setting in its memorably stark opening credits. I sense that Chest of Gold may have indirectly influenced many opening credits sequences in Chinese martial arts films of the 1970s. This is just poorly educated conjecture on my part.)

Humor has always been part of the Zatoichi films to varying degrees. It's difficult to have a story about a blind masseur turned swordsman without at least acknowledging the absurd and/or comic aspects of the character. In Flashing Sword, the first half of the film finds Shintaro Katsu playing Zatoichi as a bit of a clown. Our master killer knocks people off a small bridge, falls down like an oaf, plays fraidy cat in a fireworks shop, and mugs for the camera as he gobbles a heaping bowlful of rice. Zatoichi has always had a hint of Mr. Magoo in him, mostly as a kind of defense. Yet when he's bashfully talking to Miss Kuni (Naoko Kubo) and so smitten he can't keep his cool, I couldn't help but think of another cartoon character: Goofy. He has reverted to boyish adolescence and is completely defenseless against her. I almost expected him to say "Gorsch" after he called her pretty (or whatever's Japanese for "gorsch").

In a lot of ways, Zatoichi's Flashing Sword works because of its major shift from comedy to bloody tragedy. Our hero finds himself nursed back to health after being shot in the back. Out of gratitude to those who saved him, he becomes embroiled in a battle between two clans for control of a ford.

Zatoichi has always sought penance as a means to a normal life, but he's never able to escape his past sins. He will always be a fugitive and an exile even if that's the last thing he wants to be, and so he's forced to wander endlessly and repeat a pattern of brief hope and inescapable disappointment. In that pattern, his mere presence hurts others around him, compounding the guilt of other sins. There are brief reprieves from his itinerant existence, and the bright settings and lightheartedness in the first half of Flashing Sword emphasize this fleeting joy. Yet when the plot grows dark, Zatoichi returns to darkness, and he does so literally in the film's incredibly brutal and memorable finale.

In the last shot of Zatoichi's Flashing Sword, we might have one of the better visual representations of Zatoichi's torment. Divorced from the context of the scene, if we could look away from the tumult and upwards, what's happening would be wonderful, a sky full of delight and secret triumph. But with Zatoichi there before us and Katsu's facial expression, we are far from the light of heaven and wonders of summer; with him, this is perdition, and it is cold.

Minutes before, Zatoichi laments his blindness. He wishes he could see the fireworks. Yet maybe he understands how perfectly these brief flashes of light in the dark describe the path he'll have to tread for the rest of his life.

Ninja Kids!!! Summer Mission Impossible (2013)

Following 2011's Ninja Kids!!! this on the cheap sequel brings back many of the actors from the first film for a second go round.

The plot of the film has Rantaro and his friends trying to retrieve a sword known as the Blissful Heaven, which will allow it's owner to rule the world. The theft comes to light when the boys return to the ninja academy early when they are tricked by their teachers because they knew they wouldn't have finished their summer homework. They are sent on the mission by the dean who figures they might learn the answers to their homework on the way.

Lets get this out of the way at the start- while the characters and the many of the actors are the same this isn't really comparable to Takshi Miike's classic film. Miike's film is a wonderfully constructed film that perfectly balances adventure and comedy. It feels as though it's set in a cartoon realm two doors down from our own.

This film, clearly shot on a smaller budget and possessing a feel similar to a mid-level TV movie (there is lots of green screen effects and simple sets) hides its short comings in many departments with a rapid fire approach to story telling and comedy-It seems to have the attitude that if it throws lots of characters, comedy and meta references at the audience some of it is bound to stick. Weirdly much of it does, and while the film is much better in any particular moment than as a whole,  I enjoyed myself once I got past some initial disappointment.

High art? Are you kidding? This is low brow  and say what you will bits of this made me chuckle.

If you understand this isn't the first film I suggest you give it a go.

A Few words on Ashes and Diamonds (1958) Martin Scorsese Presents The Masterpieces of Polish Cinema

Considered one of the best films to come out of post World War 2 Poland  Ashes and Diamonds is the final chapter in directors Andrzej Wajda's trilogy of war films. The film is one of Martin Scorsese's favorite films of all time.

The plot of thefilm has a Polish freedom fighter ordered to kill an incoming commisar. His first attempt goes wrong and the wrong men are killed. While he waits for a second chance, he makes time with a bar maid and ponders what might have been and what he is doing.

I'm going to take a neutral position with the film. While it is a very good movie, I was very much distracted by this being considered a classic and a favorite of Scorsese. Sitting in my living room watching the film I was waiting for the film to knock my socks off or if not knock the socks off then at least impress me in some way.  Again, its a good film but the first time through I had so much baggage that it got in the way of my enjoying the film.

Should you see the film. Oh most definitely, but when you do so let go of the baggage and just let the film wash over you. I'm planning on revising the film, at which time I'll re review the the film.

Facing Fear (2013)

Jason Cohen's Oscar nominated short documentary tells the story of  Matt Boger and Tim Zaal. When they were teens Matt was beat almost to death by Tim and left for dead. 25 years later Matt and Tim met again by accident and over the course of time came to become friends going past the hate that filled their youth.

Solid documentary about how time can change people and if not heal old wounds make them bearable. This is a very good documentary that very much needs to be longer. As compelling as the story is I really would have liked to know more of both of their stories between their fateful meetings. As far as the film is concerned Matt went from street hustler to museum manager in an instant. Tim's transformation from white supremacist to not wanting to be there is  much too brief and chalked up to not liking what his son said. I know that but how did he end up as some one who would speak at Matt's museum?

Don't get me wrong I do like the film a great deal, but I really wanted to love it. Reservations aside you really need to see this since it shows how people can change for the better and how forgiveness can bring you great things, in this case a friend.

The film can currently be seen in one of  two collections of Oscar nominated short documentaries playing in theaters

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)

Against a black background the sixth film in the series opens with a kick ass title sequence that has the blind Ichi taking on a series of rogues who attack him. It sets the mood  and draws us into the story.

This time out Zatoichi has returned to a town for the first time in two years. He's returned to the village in  order to pay respects at the grave of a man he killed on his last visit. Arriving during a celebration to mark the end of a drought he is at first welcomed and then is severely beaten by the people in the town who think he's stolen their tax payment. Deciding to do the right thing he sets off to try and track down the real culprits.

A twisty turny film that plays closer to some of the earlier films in the series with good guys and bad guys not so clearly defined. The film is also much darker and somber than the last few titles with the treachery and mechaniations of the bad guys taking a heavy cost. The film has a kind of noirish feel but with Zatoichi and sword play in the mix.

While the plot keeps things interesting it's the series of wonderful set pieces that really hold our attention. As I said at the top the film begins with a great title sequence, this is followed by a an extended night time battle in the middle of the film, one that has Zatoichi fighting with a man on his back,; the gambling sequences where Ichi wagers whether he can cut a coin in half, and there is the final confrontation that actually has the normally invincible Zatoichi ending up bloodied. Perhaps he's mortal after all.

A very solid entry in the series

The Pretty One (2013)

Jenée LaMarque's The Pretty One, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and opens for general release this week, starts off making us think it's going to be a buddy comedy with twins—the low-pitched, repressed Laurel, trapped at home caring for her widowed father, and outgoing, effusive Audrey, who escaped from her family to live a more vivacious life in the proverbial big city, selling houses and having an affair with a married man. The movie we think is about to happen is a pretty good one thanks to the simultaneously wide-eyed and weary Zoe Kazan playing both parts. Picture a road trip with these two and, aside from all the trick photography that's going to entail, we're pretty much along for that trip... the sort of movie that, if you haven't read any summaries ahead of time (or, say, this review)...


Those expectations end pretty darn quickly, throwing a savage curveball at what we thought could have been the plot: Laurel and Audrey are in a car wreck. Laurel dies. Audrey lives. From the accident, Audrey arises as Laurel, assuming her identity, first in confusion, then in earnest, making her escape from her routine life under the guise of her twin. Any wish-fulfillment for Audrey-as-Lauren is pretty quickly dashed, however: 'her" funeral turns, to her dismay, into a tableaux that nobody's really broken up about Audrey's death. "Her" affair with the married man unravels fast. On the other hand, as Audrey/Lauren breaks out of the rote roles of both herself and her sister, she might just find a new romance living right next door.


LaMarque's script pretty much encapsulates the platonic concept of "quirky indie," and her direction tends to hammer forth both the emotional feeling and visual look of an indie-director-who-made-it-big like Wes Anderson: direct, square angles exactly bisecting the screen to show off the twins in equal space; heavily-symbolic paintings to symbolize what each girl thought she was and what the new Audrey/Laurel isn't; wacky, idiosyncratic dialogue while sneakily swimming in the next door neighbor's pool. It's thanks to Kazan that most of this is actually endearing. With a less talented actor this would just be another body swamp comedy in indie clothing. Put another "quirky" actress in the same role-I'm thinking Zooey Deschanel, mainly because Audrey's wanna-be-lover is played with a goofball earnestness by Jake Johnson, Deschanel's co-star on New Girl-and the movie, with its plot of the sort that only happens in the movies, would just seem like another wispy and pleasant but gone-quickly from the mind indie rom-com. Kazan plays this all perfectly sincerely, an anchor holding the plot together, and pretty competently too, especially when her plans unravel and telling the truth only puts things wrong, not back the way they were, That she sells the transformation from the girl, to the pretty girl, to the pretty cool girl, is the wonder in this film, and the beauty too.

Zatoichi on the Road (1963)

It opens in a gambling den where the proprietors don't like Ichi's winning. A flash of a cane sword and the place in darkness- as everyone realizes who they are messing with....and with that short sequence Zatoichi the character and the series is set. For me this is the point where it all comes together into a wonderful whole as the filmmakers, actors and the audience all get on the same page at the same time.

A more or less straight forward story has Zatoichi following the wish of a dying man and helping a young girl get where she need to go. The trouble is that two gangs both want to get their hands on her so they can ransom her. Zatoichi has to play both gangs against each other  and then ultimate take both gangs on in order to keep his charge safe.

I really like this film a great deal. While I wouldn't say that it "the best" of the series it is one of the most enjoyable on a purely popcorn sort of level. Its a film that you can put on and just sort of have it take you along on the ride. The fact that its a film I just fall into and lose myself in makes it hard to write up. I mean its just a damn fine film.

I will say that this is the next step in the evolution of the final fight. Where Zatoichi The Fugitive ended up with a large scale brawl, this one ends with an even bigger brawl with the final battle reminding me of the final battle in Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins as wave after wave of villains go after our hero.

Definitely one to watch with a nice big bowl of popcorn.

A few words on Pharaoh (aka Faraon) (1965) Martin Scorsese Presents the Masterpieces of Polish Cinema

This is one of those films that makes you wonder how this film ended up off the radar at least as far as the US is concerned. This is a visually amazing film dealing with complex issues by great characters. Its a kick in the ass film that washes over you and makes you go WOW.

The film is the story of Ramses XIII in the days before his father dies on through his ascending the throne. We watch a he leads his troops on mock maneuvers and then begins to learn the way of governing. We also watch as he orbits around a young Jewish girl whom he found wandering in the desert.

This is an amazing film.

Visually the film seems to kick the asses of many of the American epics to the curb. Who would think that the expanse of the desert would be so compelling to look at. Equally compelling are the sets, many of which are actual locations. We don't get fancy shots of grand locations that are meant to show off movie magic, instead we get a sense of real places where people live and breath.  For the first time I had a sense of what it may have been like back two thousand years ago. To be certain the shots are almost too carefully composed to be fully natural but at the same time they have the feel of what a great photographer might have snapped during real events.

I love the complexity of the plotting. The film manages to be both a compelling story of a young man trying to make his way in the world before being thrust into being a leader, and carefully modulated discussion of the dynamics of leadership, what it takes to govern and the relationship between the weak and powerful. Yes the film is based on a novel but it feels as though the complexities of the book have managed to be transferred to the screen. Wonderfully the film doesn't feel dumbed down in anyway, even to the point that the opening war games sequence, which I've read doesn't appear in the book, beautifully sets up the discussion of the use of power by leaders. (The image of the hanged man haunts me still)

There is much to say about this film, but at the moment I'm not capable, nor willing. Seeing the film for the first time really knocked my socks off and the over riding reaction was simply to go WOW a great deal. I need to see the film again, and I need to see it BIG, which is why I' reserving any full review until after I see this film again on the big screen at Lincoln Center when it plays this weekend.

This is a film that truly can be considered a masterpiece. The first truly great film I've seen in 2014.

The film plays tomorrow and Sunday. Details and tickets can be found here. If you have any love of cinema  and want to see something that you haven't seen before and really need to see on a big screen this is the film. It will knock your socks off.

Zatoichi The Fugitive (1963)

Fourth film in the series opens with some stunning real world shots. The previous film had been almost completely stage bound, which was fine for the tale it was telling but here the fact that the film has been filmed outside makes the film so much more alive and real. All of the real world colors, in particular the shades of green trees and the blue sky add so much to the film.

Also making an appearance is a good dose of humor. While there is some humor in the previous entries, they were largely serious films with dark tales of loves lost and betrayal. Here the film begins with Zatoichi climbing into a sumo ring and pretty much beating all comers. its a wonderful moment that signals the introduction of something that would allow the series to be something more than just the same old same old.

The plot of the film spins out of Zatoichi's winning in the wrestling matches. As a result the gangsters who were running them have put a price on the blindman's head. Complications arise when Zatoichi kills their leader. The heir to the gang then hesitates killing him which sparks a later confrontation. In the meantime a lost love of Zatoichi is found to be romancing one of the gang.

As good as the Zatoichi films are individually there can be a sameness to the plots.There is almost always gangs, gambling and women involved. You know there will be fights at the start and end with lots of talk in between. Frequently Zatoichi isn't so much the main character as the spoon that stirs the pot. He isn't a catalyst as such since his role is much too big for that. The plots he takes part in are in their way samurai soap opera. This isn't to say they are bad rather they are just needlessly convoluted with similar tropes appearing again and again. This isn't to belittle this, or any other Zatoichi film, rather it's to state that the plots will frequently sound like been here and done that, when the films transcend them.

Zatoichi The Fugitive (as opposed to Zatoichi and the Fugitives the 18th film in the series) is one of my favorite of the 26 Katsu films. First off we have a nice influx of humor into the story, we have the real world settings but added to that we have some amazing sequences that really make it special, We have the opening wrestling match, the sequence where the samurai and Zatoichi pass each other on the stairs trying not to be heard by each other, the wonderful sequence where Ichi walks into the yakuza lair and makes them think twice about taking him on...and that's just the first half of the film. Later in the film the final confrontation is one of the best fights in the whole series.

The film benefits from a less static style which marked the previous film. There are close ups, establishing shots and all sorts of in between. The film feels more like a modern film and less like a tableau. (which worked in the previous film).

I'd like to say something about the performances, but I'm not sure what exactly to say or where to start. I suspect the best thing to say is that the performances help the real world setting make the film seem like a real series of events.

One of the best in the series and a must see.

New Tale of Zatoichi (1963)

When I started my part in this month long examination of all of the Zatoichi films I began with the last film that Shinaro Katsu portrayed the swordsman in. In that film, Zatoichi (1989) we watched a world weary, very much older (27 years had passed from the start of the film)  blind man navigate the world.  He was hunched over and broken. Everything about the world seemed to pain him.  The world had truly been unkind to him. Part of it was very much keeping in character, but also some of it was the result of Katsu's own physical decline after years of partying (that film was one of the last he made).

I mention the ending here at the start because going backwards and seeing Katsu in  A New Tale of Zatoichi, the third film in the series, I was kind of shocked at seeing a young spry Katsu portray the character that would define pretty much his entire film career. Yes I know Katsu made lots of other films, but it was Zatoichi that was his bread and butter. Here the world hasn't beaten him down, many of his signature mannerisms weren't quite there  and he hadn't settled into a long running character. Seeing this film after seeing the end of the series it was clear why Zatoichi went super nova, there was something about the way Katsu portrayed the blindman early onthat was so incredibly alive.

This time out the film begins with a band of gangsters discovering Zatoichi in a village. He is a wanted man, having killed their boss,Kanbei's brother, They try to subdue him but the blind man turns the table on them. When Kanbei catches up with Zatoichi, the fight between Ichi and Kanbei and his men is interrupted by Zatoichi's master. The fight between enemies is put on hold as Ichi goes off with his master. From here the story spins out around the efforts of Ichi's master to marry his sister to a samurai she doesn't care for.

Feeling less akin to the two previous films and more like all the ones that follow the film feels much less formal. Yes it's very serious, the humor that ran through many of the films would really start to appear in the next film, but at the same time it doesn't feel like quite so much like a stick in the mud.

What I like about the film is that this film looks like a film that was made to be a film. As much as I like some of the later films in the series there is a sense that the films were made with a bit less care. They wanted to make money so they were trying to turn out films to feed the public (25 films came out in 11 years). While there is no doubt they were on their way to a series, the film wasn’t just fodder. We have beautiful wide screen compositions. There are these great attempts at making us truly observers on the scene but positioning us behind trees in doorways or in places where we would be overhearing or happening upon the events. Almost every scene is told in single long takes, there are few cuts to change perspective, actually in most cases the only cutaways are to go to see action that is happening at the same time. We are in the action and the action is compelling.

Definitely one of the better films in the series and worth seeing

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962)

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues seems like a clunky title for a sequel, but it's an accurate one, and it's almost as if the first two Zatoichi movies should be seen as a double feature. There'd need to be a brief break between as a palate cleanse since each film is its own animal that deserves to be appreciated in its own way. The first is more of a slowburn, character-driven, period melodrama that leads to a climactic samurai battle; the sequel is a sort of hack-and-slash soap opera. Case in point: in the first film, it's at least 20 minutes until Zatoichi's sword gets used, and it's to cut a candle; in The Tale of Zatoichi Continues, there's an early three-on-one that shows the brutal grace of Zatoichi's reverse-grip fighting style.

According to the Criterion Collection website, the first Zatoichi film was such a hit that the sequel went into production in the same year. What's fascinating about sudden sequels like this is how the filmmakers capitalize on the strengths of the predecessor. The Tale of Zatoichi Continues is much more action heavy. It's faster as well, and not just because it's shorter. Everything is focused on Zatoichi, and it allows Shintaro Katsu to continue his refinement of various Zatoichi mannerisms.

Since the movie is so action heavy, I latched onto the way that Katsu improved his character's fighting style. It's a fine spectacle to behold given director Kazuo Mori's reliance on long takes and long shots. I was especially interested by Katsu's version of the sword-at-the-ready position. Zatoichi holds his unsheathed katana right in front of him, often dead center, the tip pointed at the ground, an almost neutral stance from which he can explode. His style is entirely reactive. If you don't make the first move I can't "see" you, he tells one of his opponents during a fight. Zatoichi is a samurai counter-puncher (i.e., you try to hit me, I dodge, you get hit back), which is why he uses that reverse-grip style. It's quicker to slash in close quarters and great for counterattacks against the broad and committed overhead strikes of a traditional samurai.

When Zatoichi first appears in this sequel, he's waking from a nap in a rowboat full of bullies. (If there was a studio audience present, this would be the perfect moment for laughter and applause.) Zatoichi is oblivious to them, or at least uses his blindness to feign disregard. If you weren't familiar with the first film, this would be Mr. Magoo-like. Yet this comic re-introduction to Zatoichi captures the plight of the character in this story: he's a wanderer who happens into trouble. In this case, all the bad stuff happens when Zatoichi, the blind masseur, is hired to massage a lord. This lord, without saying too much, clearly isn't cut out for his line of work. If the secret of his condition gets out, it could mean ruin for the clan, and so they send people to kill Zatoichi. Hack-and-slash-ity ensues.

If the first film was an introduction to a walking contradiction who wanders into a study of other contradictions, I think The Tale of Zatoichi Continues is about the walking contradiction's confrontation with his own past. There's the recent event involving the massage, which leads to a meeting with a woman who reminds him of the lover he lost; there's also a mysterious one-armed man who seems to know Zatoichi; and then there's noble Zatoichi's vow to keep a promise he made at the end of the first film. The plot is like a single domino triggering various lines of dominoes, all of which run parallel and eventually intersect, each clicking and toppling line a different facet of Zatoichi's life. Or to go back to the Mr. Magoo idea, it's as if Zatoichi has walked into the cluttered existential construction site of his own pulpy biography.

(Sidenote: Zatoichi ditched his sword at the end of the first film, but he has it back at the beginning of the second one. How'd that happen? Did he go back to town because his walking branch broke? Did he just buy another one?)

There's something so enjoyable about this second Zatoichi film even though I don't think it's an objectively better movie than the first one. Some moments have the bravado of a spaghetti western while others have the chintziness of an old soap opera, complete with the bubbling suspense organ. What The Tale of Zatoichi Continues excels at, though, is hinting at the blind swordsman's past and giving a larger sense of a quest to our lovable, deadly Magoo.

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

I first saw a Zaotichi film in high school, though I don't know which one it was. I only have vague memories of scenes and plot points. There was the requisite "cheat the blind man" moment by some rogue on the road, and maybe some sort of romance that can't be fulfilled; obviously there was reverse-grip sword fighting, and I want to say a daring evade that involved blowing a tic into someone's eyeball. (I really hope I'm not just making that last bit up.) Whatever Zatoichi film it was, it definitely wasn't the first one, The Tale of Zatoichi. I wound up watching The Tale of Zatoichi some time in college at least a dozen years ago, so my memory is foggy here as well. Something about a gang war with Zatoichi taking one side and a sick samurai taking the other.

Despite my bad memory about the handful of Zaotichi films I've seen, what endures is Shintaro Katsu's performance as the eponymous blind swordsman. I remember Zatoichi, just not all of the other stuff around him. It says something about Zatoichi and Katsu, I think, and less about slipping in my old age.

Zatoichi is so fully realized in performance and mannerism by the first 10 minutes that any quirk that comes after seems natural to the character. Take that shut-eyed look of Katsu's that breaks occasionally for emphasis--when his eyes open, and they're maybe just a slight bit strabismic, it's the same thing as italics. Zatoichi has a penchant for the seemingly unintentional dig as he blindly assesses his surroundings. He calls out scoundrels, suggests that he was attacked by a nobody, dismisses people as if they were nothing. But it's clear that these are intentional digs that he hopes to disarm by virtue of being blind--his blindness is a kind of weapon. His sword is just an extension of this idea, the blade hidden in a walking stick, and wielded with a reverse grip so he can come in close and read the danger of the moment in a swish of air or graze of fabric. Through all these details and affectations, Katsu perfectly realizes the logic of a character who is an impossible fiction.

But it's not just the outward contours of Zatoichi's character that I remember. It's odd that I can't recall the plot of The Tale of Zatoichi, because the plot of this film is the stuff that allows an exploration of the interior life of Zatoichi. There amid the gang war we meet this walking contradiction. In one of the film's comic inversions, Zatoichi the blind former-masseur receives a massage from someone much higher on the class scale. In the interactions between Zatoichi and Hirate, there's the classic example of enemies by principle rather than by legitimate reason. If the two of them weren't hired by rival gangs, they'd probably make great fishing buddies, but they live their lives by strict codes.

The various dilemmas of Zatoichi may seem like low drama in a lesser actor's hands, yet Katsu buys into the reality of this character full of contradictions, and in doing so makes Zatoichi believable. I understand that his meekness hides odd strength, and his little stumbles conceal a conman guile, and his sword-for-hire criminality is still underlined by a kind of righteousness. Maybe the reason I forgot so much of the plot of The Tale of Zatoichi is because the film seems less about the swordplay and more about the interplay of disjunctions going on within and around the blind swordsman. Maybe I remembered what was most important: Zatoichi himself.

A 26-film run as the character (followed by 100 episodes on TV) makes Katsu's Zatoichi seem less like James Bond or Wong Fei-Hung. He's probably not even quite like Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp. Given Katsu's portrayal and I'm assuming a certain amount of continuity between films (we'll see about that), I'm more inclined to think of Zatoichi in terms of comic book characters, i.e., Wolverine, Batman, Daredevil, and so on. What'll be fascinating as the Zatoichi series unfolds is to observe how Zatoichi holds up as time goes by and as he becomes involved in different kinds of stories. In the center of it all is Katsu, who seems like the sturdiest anchor that a series about an unforgettable badass could have.

Stephen King's Night Shift Collection Vol. 1 & 2 (1986 & 1989)

 

By 1977-78 Stephen King was only in the first phase of what would be a long and extremely successful career. With novels such as: Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining & The Stand already under his belt. King began to receive many requests from young, upstart filmmakers, wanting to bring his written work to film. Soon after, King formed the 'Dollar Deal' policy (aka Dollar Babies). With the permission of King, select filmmakers & students would have permission to adapt one of King's short stories (Novels not included) for just $1. The only catch being, King would keep the film rights to each one, and receive a video of the finished work.

February of 1978 saw the publication of a collection of short stories by King, called Night Shift. I've never read the book despite seeing some of the films that came from Night Shift. The Lawnmower Man, Graveyard Shift, & The Mangler later became theatrical full length features.

To gather a full list of 'Dollar Babies' that were filmed based on King's work would be nearly impossible and many of them have never been publicly seen. To my knowledge only a select few films, which all came from the Night Shift novel, were able to meet King's high expectations. Three of these stories: The Woman in the Room, The Boogeyman & Disciples of the Crow (Based on Children of the Corn) were released over a two videocassette series entitled Stephen King's Night Shift Collection.

Volume 1:

The Woman in the Room (1983) - Directed by Frank Darabont.
A middle-aged lawyer battles personal demons as his invalid, elderly mother lays dying in a hospital. With no help from his brother he must decide what is best for his ailing mother. So it's not surprising that Frank Darabont's film debut started with a Stephen King short. Considering that he created such brilliant film adaptions such as The Shawshank Redemption & The Green Mile. The Woman in the Room plays out as a serious drama about Euthanasia. Aside from a brief, creepy, hospital scene, there is not much horror to this film. Still, this is easily the best of the bunch.

Each actor is memorable despite the 30 minute running time. Most notable, is the terrific bit of dialogue between the lawyer and his client who is on death row for murder. The Woman in the Room is a great look into a young director's mind, who would later become one of Hollywood's top filmmakers as well, as the creator of television's The Walking Dead. Even King himself has gone on record saying that Darabont's short is the best short based on his work.

The Boogeyman (1982) - Directed by Jeff C. Schiro.
Is about a man who attempts to convince his psychiatrist that the Boogeyman is real and has been taking the life of his children. Schiro, who was a film student at N.Y.U. at the time, can certainly take credit for making the first known Stephen King 'Dollar Baby' short. Unfortunately, that's the only thing I can give him credit for.

Although, I've been told that this is one of the better stories from the Night Shift book. That being said, it's almost unfair to use this as an example because of it's poor execution. But when you have Stephen King's name attached to something, your setting the bar quite high for yourself. In my opinion, the low independent production value made it difficult to get into the story. With a bit more time and attention, The Boogeyman could have been something more. However, as you can safely assume with a title like The Boogeyman, this subject matter has been covered numerous times.

The Woman in the Room & The Boogeyman found their way onto VHS in 1986 via Granite Entertainment Group. The two films were packaged onto one videocassette, also known as Volume 1 of the Stephen King Night Shift Collection. However, thanks to Interglobal Home Video, both films managed to receive their own video release. At one time there were two different versions of Volume 1 and two different versions of Volume 2. Confused? You should be.

Volume 2:

Disciples of the Crow (1983) - Directed by John Woodward.
Tells the story of a couple passing through a small Oklahoma town and discover that it has been taken over by a cult of murderous children who worship a crow god. Based on the Night Shift story Children of the Corn, which would become a feature film one year later. Disciples of the Crow is a much smoother version of the tale.

For reasons that are lost on me, Children of the Corn has a built-in fan base among the horror crowd. Its nostalgic value is understandable but I would not describe it as Classic Horror. With a run time of less than 25 minutes, Disciples of the Crow manages to trim the fat and serves up more suspense than it's overweight companion. It's simplicity at it's finest.

The Night Waiter (1987) - Directed by Jack Garrett.
Depicts a young man newly hired as the Service Waiter at the Bay View Hotel, but he soon comes into conflict with the sinister Night Clerk. This is the outcast story of the Night Shift Collection. This 'Dollar Baby' is not based on anything that Stephen King wrote. The Night Waiter was a short story written by the director Jack Garrett. One could argue this works in The Night Waiter's favor so there is nothing to compare it to. However, there are similarities to The Shining. Given this is a student film, the directing work is the top feature here. The sound and lighting quality are also key elements that give Garrett's film a high production value.

What remains in question is why this was included on a videocassette named Stephen King's Night Shift Collection. I do not have a definitive answer to that but I certainly have a theory. As previously mentioned The Night Waiter resembles Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. King may not approve of it, but The Shining remains one of his most memorable film adaptations. Perhaps The Night Waiter was just better than most of the King 'Dollar' shorts that were made. In 1989, Karl James Associates paired Disciples of the Crow & The Night Waiter together for a second (unofficial) volume.

None of the Stephen King Night Shift Collection's have ever been officially released on DVD. The only sources of this collection are on VHS and arranged according to distributors preferences. So it's quite difficult to find copies of the Night Shift Collection in it's original order. There was even a 1995 videocassette release containing only The Woman in the Room & The Boogeyman! Now THAT is a nightmare, even King could not conjure!

Introducing Unseen Films's look at every Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi film ever made

Chinese New Year is done at Unseen and we’ll be moving across the East China Sea or the Sea of Japan for a month of films about everyone’s favorite sword wielding blind masseuse Zatoichi. Ichi was played in 26 films and a TV series by Shinataro Katsu who ended up with the character as his signature role.In honor of the recently released box set from Criterion and because the 26 films will fill in the film a day slots to the end of the month, we’ll be looking at all of Katsu films.

The bulk of the films were made from 1962 to 1973 with the final film coming in 1989. The TV series came in not long after the end of the first 25 films. The final film came ten years after the series and it kind of closed out the series and Katsu's career. You’ll be getting bits and pieces of the history of the films and series in the reviews so I won’t go into that other than to say that the series was so popular in Asia that the character ended up meeting the Toshiro Mifune's Yojimbo character in one of the later entries as well as Jimmy Wang Yu's One Armed Swordsman.

The character was ripped off and remade numerous times over the years from Spaghetti westerns (Tony Anthony played a gunslinging version in a couple of films from Italy) to American comedy action films (Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury) and even elsewhere in Asia (The most obvious rip off was Chinese film called Zatoichi and the Flying Guillotine). In recent years there has been two continuations with the character Takashi Kitano’s Zatoichi and the Kitano produced Zatoichi The Last. Plus a film called Ichi about a young blind disciple of Zatoichi who happens to be a girl. And of course there was Takashi Miike’s stage version. While we’ve done some of those films already, we’re just going to concentrate on the Katsu films (though reviews of Ichi and Zatoichi The  Last will be appearing at some time during the month).

I know you’re probably wondering why are we doing this? Partly because we like the films, mostly because as we slide toward our fourth anniversary and the end of written in stone rule of a movie every day we figured to go out doing something special (even though we’re pretty much  programmed into May at this point.). And when I say we, I do mean we, this is a group effort with Hubert, Mr C and Alec signed up to give their takes on films. Not only that several more Unseeners are debating getting into the mix as well.

So sit back relax and watch how far from helpless a blind man can be.

Thunder Cops(1989) Chinese New Year 2014

This is supposedly a sequel to a film called Operation Pink Squad with which it has almost no real connection. It also has a sequel called Thunder Cops 2 which it also has almost no connection (it features a top billed Stephen Chow who only shows up toward the end for a couple of minutes). The reason I'm telling you this is because if you read on this film almost every review will mention the connections and state how the film seems completely unconnected to them. I also mention it because you should know that you don't need to know about any other film to enjoy this.

The easiest explanation of the plot has a newly married couple not getting it on in the bedroom. He is too timid, having been warned off letting his wife he's inexperienced lest she laugh at him.  He is however very jealous and when her job as a police officer has her take part in a sting operation as an escort he follows along to try and catch her in some infidelity. Complications naturally arise first in that he misinterprets everything he over hears and secondly the building the sting is to take place in is haunted. Meanwhile a Buddhist monk has been brought in to catch the ghosts. Unfortunately one of the ghosts escapes before she can be locked away.

Broad humor mixes with supernatural chills in a film that is light on plot but big on wild and over the top action set pieces. The humor is a matter of taste and frequently falls flat. On the other hand the action set pieces are really good with the toy helicopter chase alone being worth the price of the DVD. The sequence involving toy helicopters chasing the flying head of the ghost is a wonder. The zombie attack that follows it isn't bad either-though how it's resolved has to be a zombie film first-elves.

Its a wild and wacky film that is, once it gets going, an absolute blast and a half. Track it down.

Martin Scorsese presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema at Lincoln Center starting Wednesday

Starting on Wednesday The Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting Martin Scorsese’s presentation of the Masterpieces of Polish Cinema. This is a huge collection of films that have been restored and being used to highlight the often neglected Polish film industry.  Details on the series can be found here.

 We at Unseen are hard at work on providing coverage and if all goes well we should have reviews of a bunch of the films including Black Cross, Man of Iron, Ashes and Diamonds, Hourglass Sanatorium, Saragossa Manuscript and A Short Film About Killing all of which are in our film collections. I’m also hoping to make it to a couple of screenings including the epic Pharaoh which looks and sounds great.

 Reviews are coming so keep an eye out for them.

Leaving Gracefully (2011) Chinese New Year 2014

The joy of running Unseen Films is I have an excuse to look for off the beaten track for films. Thanks to this website I can spend extra time going through the various racks in the DVD stores. This means that I can pick up more films that look promising but normally I might not touch. My finding Leaving Gracefully was the result of  going off the board, I found it in a store in Chinatown in NYC. It has a box (see above) all in Chinese and except for one word of English- English under subtitles and an interesting picture that made me want to know more.

God I love happy accidents.

Based on a true story, this is the story of a couple, Hsiu-mei and Chih-hui, in Taiwan who are shaken when she is diagnosed with a rare brain disease called Spinocerebellar Ataxia. The disease will slowly destroy all her motor control. Initially everyone, including their daughter, have a kind of denial about the situation, but as things worsen they begin to come to terms with it. Eventually Chih-hui decides that he's going to take the time left with his wife and walk with her (in a specially modified wheelchair) all around Taiwan. As time passes the family finds hope and each other once again.

While far from a perfect film, Leaving Gracefully beautifully manipulates your heart strings. I found it very hard not to get misty while watching the film. There is something about the ability of the human spirit to find joy that is beautifully illustrated in this film. Yea there is sadness but at the same time Hsiu-mei's joy at seeing temples, or the ocean is magical.

Credit the cast lead by Rene Hou as Hsiu-mei. She manages to get all of the physical and emotional changes just right. Even more importantly she makes it clear that there is a person inside the twisting body. There is something about the joy she shows when dealing with her daughter, listening to her play the piano, singing her happy birthday or simply comforting her, that brought me to tears.

I really liked this movie a great deal. And while it may not end up on the best of the year list next December, I'm guessing that this film is going to end up one I talk about all year long. Track this one down.