Z/Web

I don’t know anything about the Zatoichi tradition in Japan (there have been many films made), but this was an unusual and pretty cool film. It is extremely violent, however: lots of death. Pretty much every fight scene involves dozens of dead bodies, with everyone killing everyone else; such a casual approach to death struck a wrong note with me. I also had a problem with the cheesy blood-spurting special effects. They looked ridiculously fake. Still, the story was cool. Zatoichi’s a blind masseur, traveling from town to town, and dispensing justice when appropriate. Even though he’s blind, he’s an amazing swordman, and no one can get him. When he finds bad guys dominating a small town, he sets out to stop them, with bloody results. Two things I really liked: 1) The swordfighting is realistic, in the sense that there are no more than two or three blows and someone dies. In most films the swordfight takes a long time and there are parries and thrusts and counter-thrusts. But that’s not reality, that’s fencing. In reality, swordfighting is over in seconds. Either you made the right decision and you’re alive, or you chose wrong and you’re dead. That’s it. 2) The second thing I really liked was Zatoichi’s character, which is unusual, mysterious, and interesting. Pretty good film overall.