310-313 Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics

[daniel p]

Tadaa...

[analoguezombie]

I really enjoyed Sword of the Beast. It's attack on the absurdity of adhereing to the samurai code of honor in a world where the clan leaders sacrifice their well intentioned retainers to further their Machivelian machinations is very successful. It's theme works both as a restrospective insight into real samurai life in the waning years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, much like Twilight Samurai, and a critique of 60's Japanese society. I'll be buying this box set on the strength of this film.

[lull]

the four films are reviewed over at Midnight Eye.

[zedz]

I've now made it through the box, so here are my thoughts:

Samurai Rebellion - a superb film, beautifully paced by Kobayashi. The first hour and a half is all meticulous set-up, with the tension being ever-so-gradually tightened as you become more aware of the political ramifications of the characters' actions / inactions. The action explodes in the final half-hour, and even after such an extended build-up, it doesn't disappoint.

Sword of the Beast - This seemed to me to be a mere potboiler: an indifferent story clunkily related, without much modulation in the performances. The final twenty minutes, when the various plots converge, is admittedly effective, and this section also contains the film's most striking images, but I can't help but thinking that if this film hadn't fitted so snugly within the thematic parameters of the box set Criterion wouldn't have bothered with it.

Samurai Spy - Shinoda is a superb stylist, and this film contains plenty of sequences of wonderful beauty and invention (two particular favourites are the head spy leaping off the bridge and the climactic battle obscured by mist). From my limited familiarity with the filmmaker, this seems to be a relatively minor work (certainly not up there with Double Suicide), but I'm grateful to see anything more by him. The most stylistically stimulating film in the box (and the Kobayashi is stiff competition). Given how much Shinoda we've seen on recent Criterion releases (this, the interview on Samurai Rebellion, contributions to Harakiri and Ugetsu), I'm hopeful that there are some more of his films in the pipeline.

Kill! - I had little sympathy for the forced, unfunny zaniness and broad performances of much of this film (though it was intriguing to see Nakadai departing from his trademark Noh stoicism), but you have to admit that Okamoto can stage great battles, and that's what kept me going through the film. This film and Sword of the Beast seemed the most strictly generic of the four, and I was interested to see how close they were to the Shaw Brothers kung fu template of the seventies.

Extras - A very meagre selection. Shinoda's interview on Spy was good value, but the Kobayashi interview on Samurai Rebellion (the only other significant extra in the set) is a mere three-minute snippet. Given that Criterion have recently interviewed Nakadai for Harakiri and Ran, it's disappointing that they couldn't also have extracted a few comments about his two films in this set. Similarly, the creation of this set offered a good opportunity to gather together a few experts on chanbara films, get them talking for a few hours, about the form in general and these films in particular, then fillet the footage into four contextualising extras. A missed opportunity.

[Steven H]

I've now made it through the box, so here are my thoughts:

Since I just recently viewed Harakiri, I'm putting off watching Samurai Rebellion for a few days.

I mostly agree with your assessment of Sword of the Beast, especially about the story and performances. There are other things that struck me as stand-out for placement in the set. It's *overtly* anti-feudal, which makes it interesting politically (and definitely gives it the right to be in the samurai revolution set), and the links to humanity and "beasts" are large. The opening shots of grass blowing in the wind, a man hunted like an animal, and the ending all loom large in this context. I'm not much for symbols (or am I?) but this parallel with nature was what kept my interest in the film much more than plot or character (which I definitely agree were lacking.)

There's definitely something great about Samurai Spy, and I wouldn't think for a second about ranking it lower among the Shinodas out there (his early films with Shochiku I have yet to see, and these don't sound too promising.) A lot of comparisons could be made with this and his Assassination (in fact, that might have been a better film to include in this set, but I'm glad they didn't as there's a good bootleg and upcoming MoC release, whereas Samurai Spy was unavailable.) The complex plot definitely seems to point to noir, more than Westerns which the other diretors seem inspired by. I would love to read, or learn more about the source material this film is based on. It's a shame the brilliant actress Shima Iwashita was underused in this, I would have appreciated her perfectly suspicious glances in a spy film this slick.

You don't have to wait for Criterion in order to appreciate this filmmaker. HVE's Pale Flower, and the seven fantastic TOHO R2 releases (also, the Panorama With Beauty and Sorrow, which you can just stack two televisions, play the Panorama with english subs on the bottom, the unsubbed R2 on top, and pretend.) I would like to see Criterion release Clouds at Sunset, selfishly, because it's unavailable.

[edit: this is regarding KILL!... I forgot to mention this previously.]Maybe it's because I had recently viewed Sanjuro, and I had extremely low expectations for this, but I loved every second. The most fun I've had watching a film since Yamanaka's Million Ryo Pot. I laughed, out loud and alone, many times. Nakadai's facial expressions were unforgettable. A big surprise, and I loved all the existential anti-samurai talk. Visually stimulating as well. I don't think I had much sympathy for anyone, but that doesn't seem to be a strong point of this era of samurai films to begin with. The only true sympathy I've had for anyone, that I can think of, has been Nakadai, and his family, in Harakiri.

I agree about the lack of extras, and your ideas sound wonderful, but at the price I paid for this thing, and the beautiful transfers and decent booklets that are included, I'm happy. In case anyone missed it, if you go to the screen on Samurai Spy and press "up" on "main", you get a snippet of Shinoda talking about Tarantino.

[Napier]

just started watching Sword of the Beast. I noticed that the sound is out of sync. Anyone else notice this? Or do I have a faulty copy?

Maybe it's your dvd player. Try pushing the pause then play,or backing it up a couple of seconds and then playing it again. This used to happen with my shitty old dvd player all the time.Then I got militant and got a philips 642!

[MilkManX]

Watched my copy of Samurai Spy last night.

I loved this movie.

It is a Japanese period Cold War film. It sets the stage for a war with its own intriguing mystery and plot.

I couldnt stop watching it if I tried. I was sucked in. The begining was confusing but you catch on pretty quick after the first 30 minutes.

Overall I thought it was a gripping thriller with good story and some great action.

[jojo]

Watched Samurai Rebellion last night.

With this and Harakiri, I think Kobayashi's become my favourite director when it comes to the samurai genre. His films always take some effort to get into, but once they grab me, they never let go. He's got this really rigorous, precise way of framing each scene, but it ends up being an excellent way to build up tension towards his crackerjack all-out-massacre finales.

SpoilerShow

I actually had some doubt about how I thought it would end, it really was teasing me for most of the final act. I even briefly thought Mifune would make it past the gate, but then I quickly remembered again that I was watching a Kobayashi film. Also, I'd like to say the trailer really blows. It gives away a lot of the important plot events.

Though the Human Condition was a bit too much for me, I really would like to see more Kobayashi films (though I'd be the first line if he's done any more samurai films), but it seems there isn't a whole lot of his stuff on DVD in any region.

[tavernier]

If you're in NYC on December 4, Film Forum is showing Kobayashi's rarely-screened Hymn to a Tired Man as part of its Takemitsu series.

[jindianajonz]

After seeing the first two films in this set a few months ago, I finally got around to watching the last two this weekend. I expected to get burnt out on Samurai by the time I finished this, but I think the most surprising thing about this set is how different each film was tonally, with Samurai Rebellion bordering on melodramatic, Sword of the Beast being darker and grittier, Samurai Spy switching between political intrigue and fun ninja/samurai action (and what I'm pretty sure is a nod to Orson Welles escaping through the tunnels in The Third Man) and Kill! being comical. I also expected the quality to be a bit subpar, thinking this was a precurser to the Eclipse "we can't sell them alone but maybe if we bundle them..." line of thinking, but I think each film could hold up pretty well as a standalone release, especially compared to some of the other stuff that's been put out (I'm looking at you, Sword of Doom!)

Also, I can't be the only one who had this thought as I was watching Samurai Spy:

[feihong]

There's certainly no great difference between Sword of Doom and Kill! in terms of the quality and the sensitivity of the filmmaking. It would be great to see more Okamoto available.

It's true that each film in this set is pretty much a winner. I tend to be less impressed with the Kobayashi movies--by comparison I find Shinoda, Gosha and Okamoto to be twistier, more unique thinkers and artists--so if there's one I might have let go from the group it would have been Samurai Rebellion, which I find a little uncomplicated and kind of dull. Though I can't think offhand of another "rebel samurai" director who would have filled that position in within the set. Eiichi Kudo, maybe.

This one definitely deserves an upgrade. The films are all pretty beautiful, and not easy to see in retrospectives. I would love to get a better sense of how these filmmakers used depth; I'd love to see the black and white with more detail and shading.

[FerdinandGriffon]

I much prefer Sword of Doom to Kill!. The latter doesn't work for me as either swordplay or comedy, though I think Okamoto is a very interesting director in general. I especially love his modern day comedies of the early sixties. Oh Bomb! is extraordinary, a hilarious political gangster film styled as a dazzling hybrid of noh theater and Hollywood musical. My favorite musical of that era, and a bizarre would-be cult film just dying for a Dillinger is Dead or Hausu style rediscovery-revival.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Kihachi Okamoto is up there with great satirists of the Japanese cinema like Yasuzo Masamura. In terms of action, Okamoto can stage beautifully choreographed sequences (Sword of Doom being the best example), but where he shines best is in comedy. His own Black Test Car-like film, Blueprint for Murder, is a fun parody of the type of business/spy films that were popular in Japan of the era. The Age of Assassins ranks in terms of story and style with the craziest of Seijun Suzuki and is an excellent nonsense comedy that pairs well with films like Oh Bomb!. And The Human Bullet is one of the best, black comedies of all time. It's interesting to see that independent production come out of the era where he's making consistently great pictures for Toho.

If the Zatoichi set is happening, it will introduce one more of Okamoto's films into the collection, and a great one at that.

[markant]

Anyone know how well this sold or potential licencing issues, with reference to the possibility of a BD upgrade?

[turkeysandwich]

I found Samurai Spy to be one of the most confusing films I've seen, and yet I still enjoyed it.

I love that it has the supplement explain who each character is, because I was thoroughly confused as to who was who and what they wanted. It's hard enough for me as a 21st century American with very little knowledge of 17th century Japanese history to keep things straight anyway, but the fact that the two warring factions both started with the letter 't' helped keep me confused. Even if the names were westernized, I still think I would have trouble following who they were talking about, because there are so many characters trying to cross and double cross and this guy trying to kill this guy, but wanting to help that guy, who wants to kill the other guy. I'm about to go watch it again now that I understand it a little better after some reading and looking at that supplement, but, by gawd, is it confusing. Still, I have to admit I liked its style, and enjoyed it despite not knowing what the hell was going on.