Zatoichi (2003)
Aka: The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Japanese title: 座頭市
Translation: Zatoichi
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Yui
Natsukawa, Michiyo Yasuda, Taka Guadalcanal, Daigorô Tachibana, Yûko Daike,
Ittoku Kishibe, Saburô Ishikura, Akira Emoto, Ben Hiura
Director: “Beat” Takeshi Kitano
Action Director: Tatsumi Nikamoto
Takeshi Kitano’s take on Zatoichi is interesting in that it is neither a remake nor a reboot. It doesn’t attempt to retell the blind masseuse’s origin story, nor did it spawn a new series of 25 films within the span of a single decade. Maybe you could call it a remix—a term used by my fellow reviewer Scott Hamilton to describe an adaptation that has the familiar elements of an existing franchise, buoyed by a director’s personal obsessions. However, the Wikipedia article on the movie suggests that Kitano scaled back his own auteur sensibilities when making this, so even that approach is arguable. In a lot of ways, Zatoichi feels like just another entry in the original series, but with some modern special effects, top-grade sound effects and sound editing, and what many refer to as a tap dance climax(!).
The movie is set in a small town that is being overrun by the Ginzu Gang. Several parties show up at the town for differing reasons. First, we have Zatoichi (Kitano), who wanders into town because…well…wandering into town is what he does. Zatoichi takes up shelter in the house of a widow, Aunt O’ume (Michiyo Yasuda, of Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons). Our masseuse hero mainly hangs around doing chores and occasionally heading into town to gamble. There he befriends O’ume’s gambling-addict nephew, Shinkichi (Taka Guadalcanal, who worked with Kitano in Boiling Point).
Also new to town is a ronin named Hattori Genosuke (Tadanobu Asano, who has recently shown up in the Thor films and the Mortal Kombat reboot). Genosuke’s wife (Yui Natsukawa, of When the Last Sword is Drawn) is sick, probably with tuberculosis, and he needs to find work to pay for her medicine. Against her wishes, Hattori becomes a “bodyguard” for the Ginzu Gang. In this case, “bodyguard” is more like “mob enforcer” or “assassin,” as he mainly carries out hits against rivals gangs.
Finally, there is a geisha girl duo, comprised of siblings Okinu (Yûko Daite, of Kitano’s own Hana-Bi) and Osei (Daigorô Tachibana). These two have arrived in town looking for the men who slaughtered their family and stole the family fortune. One of the earliest scenes has them attending to a former family clerk before violently stabbing the man to death.
Like a lot of Zatoichi films, our hero spends the early part of the film gambling, drinking and making merry with geisha. Eventually, the paths of these parties will cross, although it will take a little while. We all know that Zatoichi will ultimately take up the Okinu and Osei’s cause, but not before we the viewer are treated to a few flashbacks explaining the duo’s tragic backstory, which involves crossdressing and attempted child molestation! One of the best things Kitano does about the movie is developing the stories of the supporting characters while keeping the Zatoichi character as enigmatic as he was in the earlier films. No revamped origin. No origin at all. Just a blind masseuse who happens to be capable of cutting down legions of foes with his cane sword.
On the same token, as far removed from the conflict as our hero is, it’s tough not to feel for the ronin and his wife. He loves his wife and he wants to take care of her. However, the tenets of samurai culture meant that the death of a master would guarantee “unemployment” for the samurai, often forcing him into banditry and other unsavory jobs. Hattori doesn’t want to be a hired killer, especially on the payroll of a bunch of no-good extortionists, but a mixture of bad luck and cultural quirks force him into that niche, at least if he wants any hope of his wife recovering from her illness.
The movie is often slow moving, with Zatoichi not really getting active until past the halfway mark. He does keep the story moving with both the characterizations and the occasional moments of humor. The humor ranges from quirky (i.e. villager who thinks he’s a samurai) to subtle (most of Shinkichi’s tomfoolery) and finally just goofy (i.e. the laugh-out-loud gag with the eyes). I never felt “bored” while watching this, but I did wonder how long it would be before Zatoichi became a more proactive character.
The answer is “not until the last half hour.” That isn’t to say that the first 80 minutes are completely bereft of action. The movie opens with a brief sword fight between Zatoichi and some sword-wielding bandits. There are several fight sequences involving Hattori cutting down his employers’ rivals, too. Around the halfway mark, there is an ultraviolent fight between Zatoichi and the employees of a gambling den. That is followed in short order by a flashback fight scene that has nothing to do with the narrative—I think the filmmakers thought that the script was light on Zatoichi action and needed an extra one.
The fights were probably staged by Tatsumi Nikamoto, who worked on the super popular Ultraman Tyga series and Toho sci fi-horror film Mikadroid. Although Nikamoto’s contemporaries in 2003 were moving more in the direction of Hong Kong-flavored action, he sticks with more traditional chanbara carnage, in which opponents are taken out with one or two sword strokes, crumpling to the ground in a fountain of blood. Fight results are determined by a mixture of strategy and sheer speed, as opposed to drawn-out exchanges of blocks and strikes until one technique bests the other.
Nikamoto’s craft reaches its apex during Zatoichi’s assault on the Ginzu headquarters. The Geisha girls have failed in their assassination attempt and have been pushed back against the door, so to speak. Suddenly, a sword blade passed through the wood from the other side and moves upward to lift the crossbar and open the door. Zatoichi appears and proceeds to hack a couple of dozen armed ronin to pieces. It’s the longest fight in the film and by far the best in terms of staging and editing.
Much has been made of the climax, which is a long tap dance sequence featuring a troupe known as The Stripes. When I read about this sequence (prior to watching the movie), I wasn’t sure how to understand this. Dance sequence? Climax? What does that mean? Does Zatoichi and his buddies enage in a dance off with the Ginzu gang? That would certainly be an odd way to finish a violent chanbara film. Well, it’s not quite that. It’s mainly the a long and elaborately-choreographed village festival dance—mixing modern African-American dance techniques with traditional kabuki clog dancing—that is intercut with scenes of Zatoichi clearing up the loose ends of the Ginzu case. This is the first movie I’ve seen since Seven Step Pagoda in which the conflict resolution is intertwined with an elaborate dance. I never thought that a Taiwanese cheapie would have anything to do with a Beat Takeshi film, but there you go.
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