Shin Zatôichi monogatari: Oreta tsue (1972)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Shintarô Katsu

Writers:

Minoru Inuzuka (writer)
Kan Shimosawa (story)

Release Date:

21 February 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Zatoichi | Sword Fight | Martial Arts | Katana

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatoichi
Kiwako Taichi	...	Nishikigi
Kyoko Yoshizawa	...	Kaede
Yasuhiro Koume	...	Shinkichi
Katsuo Nakamura	...	Ushimatsu
Asao Koike	...	Boss Mangoro Kagiya
Joji Takagi	...	Kamijo
Masumi Harukawa	...	Hama
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yoshihiko Aoyama	...	Takujiro
Yuutaroo Ban
Tamoisu Fujiharu
Jun Fujikawa
John Fujioka	...	Kagiya yakuza
Ryuuji Fukui
Rokumaru Furukawa
Naoe Fushimi	...	Nobu
Yuuji Hamada
Hideki Hanamura
Kimiko Ishii
Takuya Kitano
Shinkan Koume
Nobue Matsuoka
Teruo Matsuyama
Tatsu Mayama
Masami Mitsuboshi
Shoji Mori
Kazuo Mortuchi
Saburô Nagaoka
Tokio Oki
Hideji Otaki
Kiyono Sasaki
Junjiroo Shinseki
Kazuko Tajima	...	Kimi
Takeshi Yabuchi	...	Mangoro yakuza
Satoko Yamamura	...	Prostitute

Also Known As:

Zatôichi 24 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi in Desperation (USA)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Katsu Production Co. Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Follows Zatôichi rôyaburi (1967)

How far outside is still in?

I have not seen more than five of the classic (and undeniably classy) Zatoichi samurai films, but this is surely the best, cinematographically, so far. It;s hard to believe this was shot in Eastman Color, a kind of poor second to Technicolor (and with far less durability; either the negative was especially preserved, or digital restoration was performed by a true expert; but in any event, this film is absolutely gorgeous to look at.

The story is dark, as others have noted; but the Zatoichi series, like most of the sword-fight genre series films to come out of Japan, is pretty heavy-handed stuff; the Japanese seem to take this sort of thing very seriously. Yet there is no doubt Zatoichi "24" stands out as exceptional, from both the series and its genre. The reason, I think, is its almost total sense of social dislocation; Zatoichi is treated by the other characters as somehow less than human, and his determination to fight at the end somewhat more than human, and so he comes across as something other than human; but the other humans of the film come across as rather poor representatives of the species. I should note that there is very little dialog in this film, particularly at the most dramatic moments, which heightens our sense that we are watching some tragedy from another reality.

The question here is, has director/star Katsu pushed his character to such an extreme that he is no longer representative of his genre, but somehow an independent dramatic entity, a "grade-A film", as might be enjoyed by those who disdain genre-films? well, I suggest this film to such viewers, as the "one chambara (Japanese sword-fight)film to see". But in any event, it is an exceptional, and troubling, cinema experience for anyone.