Ten to Chi to (1990)

Director:

Haruki Kadokawa

Writers:

Haruki Kadokawa (writer)
Chogoro Kaionji (writer)

Release Date:

8 February 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Adventure | War

Plot:

Warlords Kagetora and Takeda each wish to prevent the other from gaining hegemony in feudal Japan. The...

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Samurai | Flute | Katana | Psychotronic

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Takaaki Enoki	...	Kagetora
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Takeda Shingen
Atsuko Asano	...	Nami
Naomi Zaizen	...	Yae
Hironobu Nomura	...	Taro Yoshinobu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Masatô Ibu	...	Akida
Morio Kazama	...	Imperial Messenger
Kyôko Kishida	...	Maid-In-Waiting
Hideo Murota	...	Obu
Isao Natsuyagi	...	Yamamoto Kansuke
Hiroyuki Okita	...	Kosaka Danjo
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Matasaburo
Tsunehiko Watase	...	Usami
Stuart Whitman	...	Narrator (English version) (voice)

Also Known As:

Heaven and Earth (USA)
Kagetora (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

Japan:104 min (cut version) | Japan:125 min (uncut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Company:

Haruki Kadokawa Films

Trivia:

The production bought 500 horses, as that was far cheaper than renting and the budget for feed for the horses alone was $1,000,000. After the movie's completion, the horses were auctioned off, with most selling for more than what was originally paid. The primary draw by buyers was these horses had gone through an extensive training period four months before filming began.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Ashigaru (foot-soldiers) all wore Mempo (face masks). Mempo were only worn by samurai (and not even then by ALL samurai), who were all mounted. The reason for this is because pretty much all of the Ashigaru were played by Canadians, and the Mempo hid this fact.

Quotes:

Usami: His spirit is weak! How can he think that way and survive?

Canadian Samurai??????

Having just watched this movie on a whim I was quite impressed with the scope and choreography it must have taken to organize the battle scenes, which are of course tremendously filmed. I am however a prototypical american, and it's nice to see a little blood in battle scenes. I was often thinking while watching about the battle scenes in Braveheart. I wouldn't say that need necessarily be that bloody, but a war without blood seems to miss the point of war. Nothing in this movie looked painful. War just looked like a game of people riding horses in different directions.

I found the non battle scenes in the movie to be a nice balance though the charecters could have been worked on.....why are Kagetora and Nami in love???? What reason? Because she's there?

If this review is coming off negative then I'm not making myself clear. I did enjoy the film and have very little knowlege of 17th century Japan so as not to know of any historical flaws. I find it a bit amusing that it was filmed in Canada....donuts anyone, eh? But all in all pretty much any movie is cool if it has one samurai. When you have five or six hundred you're in for a good movie. I'd recommend this to people who hate black and white too much to sit through the three and a half hours of the Seven Samurai. 8/10