:
Takeshi Kitano,
Takeshi Kitano,
Tadanobu Asano,
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:
Takeshi Kitano,
Takeshi Kitano
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: 
: Miramax
: Action, Foreign, Japan, Martial Arts, Samurai, Quest, Revenge
: 210 min.
: English, French, Japanese
: English, Spanish, French
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Beat Takeshi Kitano directs and plays the title role in this tribute to the wildly popular "blind swordsman" of Japanese cinema who was the hero of more than 20 movies and a television series from the early '60s to the late '80s. In Kitano's version, Zatôichi wanders into a town harassed by criminal gangs, and helps two geishas take revenge on the men who murdered their parents. His mission leads him to a final, bloody confrontation with the gang's mastermind and his hired assassin (Tadanobu Asano), a swordsman with a reputation as lethal as Zatôichi. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
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| Everything--and then some more
by talltale
December 5, 2004 - 5:50 AM PST
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8 out of 9 members found this review helpful
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| Over the years I've run hot and cold to the work of Takeshi Kitano (also known as "Beat" Takeshi), but with THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, this guy has won me over completely. Combining three stories and three sets of characters plus a lot of townsfolk into one coherent whole, the director (who also stars in the title role) brings everything from fast-paced, bloody samurai action to elegant composition and irony to near-musical moments that defy description. This movie surprises you again and again. It works as simple story (what's gonna happen next?!) as well as a kind of homage to the Zatoichi character (who is evidently a staple of Japanese film and culture), and finally as an all-out musical. The concluding number combines the rhythms of rap, Riverdance, Savion Glover, Stomp and more into a hugely pleasurable finale. I've never seen other Zatoichi movies, so I can only judge by my enormous enjoyment of Takeshi's attempt. I hope he does not make a sequel, because he's already managed to include here everything anyone could wish for (yes, there's a transvestite geisha). |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.39)
235 Votes
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