Zatoichi
2003 · Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Original language: Japanese
- adventure
- drama
- action
The story
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
What it’s like
Bright, flat daylight over dusty village streets, with Kitano's signature stillness broken by sudden bursts of stylised carnage: arterial sprays of red against sun-bleached earth, rain-soaked muddy courtyards, and the rhythmic clatter of dice cups and tap-tap of a wooden cane. Its vibe is wry, bloody and bittersweet, a comic-tragic jidaigeki where a deadpan blind masseur shuffles through dusty towns and then explodes into swordplay that is fast, brutal and abrupt. Kitano frames long, quiet takes of ordinary faces and rooms, lets a rockabilly-tinged percussive score and folk-leaning Japanese music punctuate the silences, and cuts to violence with almost comic economy. Expect plenty of blood, several sudden and graphic sword kills, gang menace and cruelty, with a few sexual references but no explicit content. The pacing is languid then sharp, and the emotional register stays dry, with the central figure's loneliness and small kindnesses surfacing beneath the gallows humour. Suited to viewers who enjoy samurai genre films with a sardonic edge and can handle abrupt bloodshed, rather than anyone wanting something gentle.
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