Though this 2003 Takeshi Kitano helmed remake of the famed Zatoichi series has the slight pressure of 26 classic films and a TV series weighing down on its back, it flourishes marvelously. Kitano tones down his characteristic art-house traits of long, static takes and meditative, poetic contemplation to cater to the masses with an entertaining remake that stays true enough to the spirit of the original and updates it with stylistic changes, a new sense of humor, and gorgeous visual and aural exuberance that takes full advantage of the medium.
Zatoichi, a blind masseur/master swordsman enters a town in the middle of a gang war while citizens get pushed around for protection money. Befriending a gambling addict, a poor woman and two revenge driven siblings, Zatoichi seeks to help the innocent, as he’s the only one who can see the truths that lay hidden within the town.
And we all know that ‘helping’ the innocent really means excessive slicing and spraying blood. The Zatoichi series has always had strong action for those of us who wanted a little more style and excitement than what could be found in Kurosawa and Inagaki period pics. In this remake, Kitano takes his own liberties in choreographing the action with swift outbursts of the two master swordsmen—Zatoichi and his rival yakuza bodyguard, Gennosuke Hattori played by Tadanobu Asano—as they cut through enemies with such speed that we can barely catch the intricacies of their skill, for better or worse. It helps strengthen the cool factor of the quiet, bad-ass protagonist that Kitano loves to play (so much so that he even changes Zatoichi’s character to fit that loner persona), but the action is weakened as a result.
The random rushes of swordsmen hardly pose a threat and the action essentially takes a backseat to everything else. Without depicting the complexity of the sword fight, the best Kitano can do is end it quickly and reveal the winner. Excessively spraying CGI blood makes for some glorious shots, but it does not make up for the absence of a coherent fight.
Luckily, there is plenty to enjoy in Kitano’s other changes, especially in his oddball humor full of blind jokes, clever dialogue, side-splitting visuals and ridiculous characters—including an insane neighbor dressed in only underwear and samurai armor, who spends the film running in circles screaming maniacally.
Some of these characters make for great jokes, but the film suffers in its uneven perspective due to all its tangents and side endeavors. Zatoichi lacks any dimension, even with Kitano’s change to make him a more solemn and reflective character. The film attempts to compensate by taking a look at the two vengeance-driven geisha siblings through inconsequential flashbacks that fail to elicit the sympathy needed. Tadanobu Asano’s Hattori has some promise, as the ‘antagonist’ with an honorable motive, but he also lacks a certain substance for us to truly care.
What’s astonishing is that despite all these problems, the film does not give us the opportunity to dislike it. Kitano glorifies Japanese culture with arresting visuals of lavish kimonos, colorful geisha entertainment and sporadic looks at daily country life. Keiichi Suzuki replaces Jo Hisashi as the film’s composer and makes his presence known through lovely (yet again, completely tangential) interludes as builders and field hands work in perfect synch with the percussion instrumentals. The film even ends on a completely anachronistic tap-dancing divergence from the plot, as the entire cast crowds about a stage and performs a long, infectious, wonderfully choreographed sequence for the camera. The film is packed with these diversions and Kitano oddities that branch off in strange ways from its classic Zatoichi plot. And for all its wild decisions, it just exudes fun. While it may defy expectations for a Zatoichi film, a Kitano film, or any film for that matter, you’ll be hard-pressed to claim you didn’t enjoy any of it.
Reviewed by Tarun
