Azumi (2003)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Yu Koyama (comic)
Mataichiro Yamamoto (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 May 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

From the ravages of war rises the ultimate assassin.

Plot:

In war-torn Japan, the Tokugawa Shogun, desperate to restore peace to his people, orders the assassination of the hostile warlords...

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Samurai | Japan | Martial Arts | 1600s

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Aya Ueto	...	Azumi
Shun Oguri	...	Nachi
Hiroki Narimiya	...	Ukiha
Kenji Kohashi	...	Hyuga
Takatoshi Kaneko	...	Amagi
Yuma Ishigaki	...	Nagara
Yasuomi Sano	...	Yura
Shinji Suzuki	...	Awa
Eita	...	Hiei (as Eita Nagayama)
Shogo Yamaguchi	...	Komoru
Kazuki Kitamura	...	Inoue, Kanbe'e
Kenichi Endo	...	Sajiki Isshin
Kazuya Shimizu	...	Sajiki Nisai
Ryô	...	Osowareru Haha-Oya
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael P. Greco	...	Hyuga
Yoshio Harada	...	Gessai
Masatô Ibu	...	Nagamasa Asano
Shôichirô Masumoto
Minoru Matsumoto	...	Saru
Misako Nagashima
Jô Odagiri	...	Bijomaru Mogami
Aya Okamoto	...	Yae
Tak Sakaguchi	...	Sajiki brother #2
Hideo Sakaki	...	Nagato
Naoto Takenaka	...	Kiyomasa Kato

Runtime:

128 min | Japan:142 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | France:-16 | Argentina:13 | USA:NC-17 (uncut version) | USA:R (edited version) | Hong Kong:III | South Korea:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | UK:18 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Amuse Pictures

Trivia:

All of Azumi's dialog is written in masculine speech, that is, speech forms that normally would not be spoken by women. This reflects the fact that she was brought up with no other women around her. Yae's remark "Girls don't speak like that!" is in response to Azumi's speech pattern. "Girls don't speak like that!" refers to Azumi saying 'Bokuwa' (the predominantly male word for referring to yourself) instead of 'Watashiwa' (the female or unisex form) when pointing out that she could hide her swords in her cloak.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the fight between Azumí and Mogamí Bijomarú, when Azumí runs, jumps and strikes Bijomarú with his sword, the movement of the Azumi'sword is corrected at the last second, before cutting the hand of Bijomarú and moves up to strike the middle of the sword of Bijomarú.

Quotes:

Azumi: Where do the stars go during the day?

Movie Connections:

References Versus (2000/II)

Entertaining Yet Too Long...

Ryuhei Kitamura has developed quite a large cult following due to his massively entertaining genre-busting zombie/yakuza/martial arts hybrid film "Versus". Now he has given us "Azumi", a samurai film with a rock music soundtrack and young, attractive leads.

The film follows a clan of ten young assassins trained since childhood to carry out a special mission. Azumi, the lone female in the group is considered the most skilled of them all. Their master is an ex-samurai warrior who acts as a father figure to the teens. The assassins await the day of their mission with growing anticipation, until the day it finally presents itself. Their mission is to kill a shogun who is threatening to overthrow the ruling class of Japan. Quick to overestimate their own abilities, the assassins find their numbers dwindling as they battle the shogun's warriors including the sometimes-honorable, sometimes-manic ninja Saru and a mysterious feminine Samurai clad in white who's so good he has "never had to defend an attack". As things start going downhill for the assassins, Azumi begins to doubt herself and begins to long for the life of a normal Japanese woman.

This film is all about sword-fights and Kitamura delivers more than he probably should. People take on hundreds of swordsmen single-handedly and buckets of bright red gore are splashed about with every sword slash. While these fights are entertaining at first, they grow tedious as the hundredth person is killed. Not only that, but our heroes do not show any sort of skill that gives us reason to believe that they are capable of killing dozens of men effortlessly. Also, Kitamura has trouble finding the right lengths for his films. "Versus", "Alive" and "Azumi" are too long, while "Heat After Dark" is much too short. I really think if 10 minutes of slow-motion sword fights were cut this movie would flow much better.

Now, "Azumi" is not a bad movie, by any means. It's very entertaining, just a tad tedious. The characters are very unique and developed quite nicely, and Kitamura has a knack for giving us exciting camera angles. Although it does not live up to "Versus" (I didn't expect it to, and never compared the two until now) "Azumi" is still an entertaining film, and any fans of "Versus" should find "Azumi" a very good time. 7/10