Revenge (1964)

Title: Revenge (Adauchi) (1964)

Director: Tadashi Imai

Cast: Kinnosuke Nakamura

Review:

Samurai films and the theme of revenge are always laced together somehow; I guess living by the sword brings its own burdens and sorrows. This is a theme that director Tadashi Imai explore through this fantastic Samurai film, ‘Adauchi’, a story about a Samurai who gets thrust into a duel to the death for a minor squabble. The film explores the ideals of a Samurai, it explores how they gave more importance to their ‘honor’ and ‘saving face’ than human life itself. The question the film asks is: should it be this way? Or is human life more valuable?

Revenge tells the tale of Shinpachi, a member of a minor clan who works for the Samurais cleaning and polishing their swords. One day, a high ranking member of the Okumo clan criticizes Shinpachi’s work telling him that the spears haven’t been polished properly. Shinpachi takes this as an insult, and tells the official that his swords are probably not polished either, and that they are probably gathering dust at his house. The official takes this as an even higher insult, especially when it comes from a lower ranking clan member. So an illegal duel is arranged. You see, in those days duels had to have the approval of the government, and to go on and duel without proper authorization was something illegal. But pride wins the day and Shinpachi faces off with Okumo. We never get to see the fight, but we see it’s outcome, Shinpachi has won. The high ranking member of the Okumo clan is dead, how will Shinpachi respond for this death, especially when the duel was an illegal one?

That’s where Shinpachi’s problems begin because essentially, Shinpachi has commited an act of subversiveness by participating in an illegal duel. So the government labels him as a mad man, saying that he went mad and went on a killing spree. From their on in, Shinpachi runs away to a monastery, all the while the Okumo clan challenges him to another duel to settle the score. Will Shinpachi participate in the duel? Will he let his enemy kill him and die honorably? Will he commit Harakiri? Or will he simply ‘walk away’ and forget all about this mess? Will he choose to live or die? All these choices are offered to Shanpichi at some point by different characters in the film, but ultimately, it’s up to Shanpichi to make a choice. Stand up for yourself or runaway like a coward? Give up or fight for your honor?

The director of Revenge –Tadashi Imai- was considered in his time to be a very controversial director because he often time made extremely socially conscious films, many of which spoke against government abuse and were outright subversive. One such film was the one he made before Revenge called Bushido: The Cruel Code of Samurai in which he debunked the honor and heroism in the Samurai mythos. In other words, he didn’t much agree with the way of the Samurai. And since in those days Samurai’s were essentially the police force of their time, the films were considered to be subversive in nature. Revenge is no exception. Shanpichi is essentially a working class hero, a lowly worker who polishes the samurai’s swords, not necessarily and important individual within society. He’s the common man, just going about his business. But when treated with disrespect, he strikes back to defend his name and honor.

This is something that happens often with governments who cater to the rich. They have a modus operandi in which they basically bad mouth the poor, speak about them as something less than them, they thrive in belittling the little guy. A natural reaction for the insulted party is to get offended; anger and hatred of course can ensue. This is what happens to Shanpichi, he won’t take being insulted by a government official no matter how poor or common he is. He retains his self respect, no matter how much of a worker bee he might be. Subversive types who start talking about “Big Brother is Watching” and “conspiracy theories” often times get labeled as a crazies in society; this is yet another technique, labeling those who think differently as ‘crazy’ or in need of therapy. This is what happens to Shanpichi in Revenge. Suddenly, everyone in town goes against Shanpichi because the government has labeled him as a nut. Strange thing is that all the pressure and stress of the situation in which Shanpichi now finds himself in gets to him, to the point where it feels like he might really be going crazy. So I loved how the filmmakers used a Samurai story to address these very real issues about classism and difference of ideologies. It is a very rebellious film in nature, Shanpichi being the ultimate rebel willing to die for what he believes in, yet another common idea presented in films of a rebellious nature.

Something interesting about this movie is that for a film made in 1964, I think it was really ahead of its time in the way it tells it’s story. Director Tadashi Imai chose to tell this story in a non-linear fashion, which means that the story jumps from the past to the present and vice-versa constantly. In fact, all through out the film. You see, the film starts out by showing us the government preparing the arena in which the duel is going to take place, it shows us the people gathering for the event, the whole town gets worked up to see this duel! And it goes from the arena, to the past, to show us how Shanpichi got into this ordeal. But it doesn’t warn you about it, it simply jumps from past to present, you as the viewer have to be alert enough to realize that the film is doing this. It felt like Pulp Fiction (1994) or 21Grams (2003) in that way.

As for pacing, the film is very slow, but if you’re not the kind of person who needs something blowing up every five seconds you should be fine. Plus, the story is interesting enough to keep you glued to the screen. In other words, the film is slow, but the plot develops in a very interesting way. This is a Samurai drama that does not glorify the violence. In fact, Imai purposely leaves out the violence from certain scenes, meaning he totally skips a fight and jumps right into the outcome of the fight. But don’t get me wrong, we do get to see some cool Samurai swordplay somewhere around the middle of the film, and finally, the last 25 minutes of the film are completely reserved for the duel which is pretty awesome, and yeah, it gets bloody. The final confrontation has a lot of realism in it, and a lot of intensity, Shanpichi really lets out all his anger in those last sequence and it can be seen in his face, filled with blind rage, anger and lust for revenge.

Final words about Adauchi: a great Samurai film, beautifully shot in black and white. Director Imai might test the limits of your patience with the pacing, but just remember, it’s the story and its thematic elements that should keep you pulled in. That plus you just want to know what’s going to happen to Shanpichi, the rebel. The ending confrontation is worth the wait, but only if you know why they are there. It’s a film that shows the futility in pursuing revenge, rather than pursuing life.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Afro Samurai (2007)

Title: Afro Samurai (2007)

Director: Fuminori Kizaki, Jamie Simone

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman

Review:

Most, if not all Samurai films are linked to the theme of revenge somehow. I guess it’s only natural, after all, a Samurai kills for a living, and killing always has a way of coming back at ya, and revenge will always figure into the equation somehow. You choose to live that life; and death, blood, and revenge are all going to tag along. “You live by the sword, you die by the sword” and all that. And the world of Afro Samurai is all about blood, death and revenge. And hip hop music. You see the creator of Afro Samurai (Takashi Okazaki) came up with the character by mixing a few of the things he loved the most: Samurai’s, science fiction and swordplay with Hip Hop music and American Black Culture. This mixture of cultures crossed over to the actual production of the series, which brought together creative talent from both east and west. First up, the animation was done by the guys at Gonzo animation studio; these were the very same guys responsible for the ultra cool anime series Hellsing, which I loved. Then we have Afro Samurai’s actual creator, a Japanese comic book artist known as Takashi Okazaki. The voice talent is mostly made up of American actors. Afro Samurai himself and his imaginary friend known as Ninja Ninja are both voiced by non other than Samuel L. Jackson himself, who by the way is also credited as being one of the producers of the show. Ron Perlman (Yes ladies and gents, Hellboy himself) voices a character known as ‘Justice’, Afro’s #1 enemy. The music comes to us from RZA, who’s an experienced hip hop recording artist and collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on the  soundtrack for both of his Kill Bill (2003) films. So in the end, this is a project that brought together the best of many worlds.

 Story for Afro Samurai is all about headbands. That’s right my friends, headbands. The sword fighters of this world only care about wearing the #1 headband, because it means you’re the best, it means nobody can mess with you; but also because wearing the #1 headband will make you into a God. So everyone and their mother is taking a stab at this headband, problem is that only those with the #2 headband can defy the #1. And the one wearing the #2 right now, is Afro Samurai, a dude you don’t want to be messing with. You see Afro is out to avenge the death of his own father, who was decapitated by the current owner of the #1, a villain who goes by the name of ‘Justice’. Will Afro get to avenge his father’s death?

 What I liked the most about Afro Samurai is that the animation is really top notch, super stylized stuff. Afro’s Afro stands ten feet high while the wind hits it. Characters have swordfights while flying through the air, swords look ten feet long, but it’s all because of the angles. The angles that they choose, the places where they choose to put the camera, many of them are unique to the animation form, things are done on this series that can only be done on an animated feature and I loved that about it. This is the kind of film in which Afro can slice three dudes in half, at the same time with one swoop of his sword! This is a film in which Afro can end up fighting an android version of himself! After a good day of ass kicking, he then calmly takes a drag from his joint, which he is always smoking from. Maybe that’s why the dude fights so well! Point is, anything can happen on Afro Samurai.

 Some have accused this series of being the classic example of  “style over substance”, and I’d have to say that to an extent, I agree, but I’d also have to say that its not entirely true. I think a more accurate description of this film would that it does a fine balancing act between telling an involving revenge tale, and giving us some of that good old fashion hack and slash we always expect in a Samurai film. Yeah the film does concern itself with lots of cool angles, and colors and beautiful looking animation, but behind it all we have a bonafide revenge film every step of the way; and a very dramatic one at that. But it’s a safe bet to say that Afro Samurai concerns itself with being super cool, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s an empty film with only cool visuals to look at. Behind it all is a story about accepting death, about a young boys love for his father, about learning to harness what makes us unique and about learning to face ones fears. If I had to compare it to another Japanese animated film, it would have to be Ninja Scroll because it's also about a hero going up against one enemy after another. What makes Afro story evolve are the flashbacks we get in between, where we get to know who Afro is, and how he came to be in this complicated and dangerous predicament.

   

 Afro Samurai originally aired on Spike TV way back in 2007 as a five episode mini-series, I never saw it when it first aired, the version I recently watched was Afro Samurai Director’s Cut, which I think is the best way to watch it because it you watch all five episodes back to back, you’re basically watching a feature length film. The second Afro Samurai adventure is called Afro Samurai Resurrection (2009), and that one was released as a feature length film. I’ve yet to see that one, but it’s a problem I plan on resolving soon, so keep an eye out for my review of that one. For now, all I have to say about this mini-series is that hanging out with Afro-Samurai for two and a half hours was the booooommmb!

Rating: 5 out of 5

13 Assassins (2011)

Title: 13 Assassins (2011)

Director: Takashi Miike

Review:

A while back I wrote an article called Totalitarian Futures, Big Brother is Watching You! in which I listed a group of subversive films, that is to say, films that speak up against governmental oppression and abuse. These films have many things in common amongst them. For example, films like 1984, Equilibrium, The Island, THX-1138, and Fahrenheit 451 are all about someone from within the system who can’t take it anymore and decides to fight it or escape it. One of the things that distinguishes these films from others is the emergence of a leader, a rebel. This rebel often times comes from within the ranks of the government itself; a government official or a cop as is the case with Equilibrium, a film in which Christian Bale plays a ‘Cleric’; a top ranking government official responsible for eliminating those who resist the system. At one point, this cleric realizes the beauty of art and the pleasures of reading a book and so he decides to defend the people and their right to feel and express themselves as opposed to everyone being lifeless, drone like, the same. These are my favorite kind of subversive films because they show how someone from within can also realize that there is something wrong, and that that someone can take matters into his or her own hands and actually do something about it.

 This is the case with 13 Assassins, Takashi Miike's new Samurai film in which a group of 13 Samurais decide to go up against a particularly abusive government official called Lord Naritsugu, a cruel and sadistic man who is well on his way to becoming the next Shogun. How evil is this man? Well, his own Samurais are committing suicide out of hatred towards him. They are so against his way of doing things that they kill themselves at his own door step. Lord Naritsugu does many evil deeds and then kills as many people as he has to in order to cover everything up the vile things he does. The 13 Samurai of this film realize that they cannot let this evil man become the ruler of the land, so they organize an attack to go up against him and his ever growing army. Will they succeed in their assassination attempt? Are 13 Samurai enough to go up against an entire army of more than 200 soldiers?

 In some countries human rights don’t mean a thing, especially when the government wants to stomp on its people for whatever reason they might have up their sleeves. Let’s say for example they don’t want people going to college so much, because they want people to remain stupid and controllable. Well, then they send a whole army of  armed policemen to the campus to beat the hell out any student they come across with, effectively scaring students from ever wanting to go back to college. Of course the government makes sure they stir up the students revolutionary sensibilities first, so students will revolt and the government will then have an excuse to go in there and stomp the crap out of them. Or let’s say the government is interested in a particular piece of land that they find profitable for tourism purposes, but the land is filled with poor people living in it. What will they do then? Well, they send in more heavily armored cops in there to terrorize the people, then they bring up the prices for utilities like water and light, then the people have no choice but to leave. Then they can build their hotels and condo’s. When the powers that be want something, they will find a way to achieve their purposes. What I always ask myself is, how can these police officers not realize that what they are doing is wrong? That they are being used to abuse the very people they are supposed to be protecting?

 This is why I love films like 13 Assassins, because they address the issue of the government official realizing their government isn’t doing what is right. I remember a video of a riot that occurred on the University of Puerto Rico where a student is standing in front of a cop, who is heavily armored. The cops were heavily armored, with helmets and bullet proof vests and clubs and pepper spray. The policeman had a blank stare on their faces, looking into nothingness, while the student was trying to connect with the police officers human side. The student couldn’t connect, because their was no one there. The officer was on auto pilot, he wasn’t even listening to the girl. He was ignoring her pleas for humanity; his brain had been washed in more ways than one. Things like that make me so sad, they are not upholding the law they are being used to break it. Governments like these should not exist. And the question inevitably arrizes: who watches the Watchmen? Who makes sure that these governments don’t abuse their people? Shouldn’t their be some sort of world police making sure governments are in line doing what they ought to be doing instead of abusing their people?

 This is where the 13 Assassins come in, in Takashi Miike’s wonderfully subversive film. Back in those days, the Samurai served as the government’s personal police force. They were especially trained in the ways of the sword and in the Bushido mentality. They were taught not to show any emotions and to follow the Shogun’s orders without question, no matter what the request might be. But the Samurai’s also lived by a personal code of ethics. They had a deep sense of what was right and what was wrong, which was often times in contras with their Shogun’s orders. This is what happens in 13 Assassins. Though the Samurai work for the Shogun, they realize that one of his officials is pure evil, and needs to be eradicated before he becomes a Shogun himself.  And so this film can be divided into two parts: the first half in which the 13 Assassins gather and prepare for their upcoming confrontation and the second half which presents us with the actual confrontation itself. The first half is actually very interesting because we get to know each individual Samurai and their reasons for agreeing to go up against Lord Naritsugu. I loved this part because we get to see these men getting together for the greater good, they tell themselves “let’s see if there are any good Samurai’s left”. They know they are going up against incredible odds, yet they go for it anyways accentuating the common theme in all subversive or rebellious minded films: the willingness to die for what you believe in; the idea that you’d rather die then live as a slave.

Films dealing with rebellion have to be realistic as well. One cannot make a film like this one and make it look as if everything will be fine and dandy if you go up against an evil powerful government. In many movies where a character goes up against the proverbial ‘system’, things don’t usually end up well for the rebel. In many of these types of films, the rebel usually ends up dead. If you want to read more about this subject matter check out a series of articles I wrote a while back during my VIVA LA REVOLUTION! three day event where Neil Fulwood from The Agitation of the Mind and I celebrated and explored Revolution on film. It was a pretty nifty collaboration, highly recommend checking it out. I think 13 Assassins displayed the idea of revolution realistically, I mean the second half of the movie is a 50 minute long battle sequence where a lot of people die! Takashi Miike really out did himself with this whole sequence. Literally, its slicing and dicing for almost a whole hour! One thing is made clear, going up against a despotic powerful government is not a clean wholesome affair. Lot ’s of blood is spilled, lots of death takes place, and many good people die.

I loved the confrontation between the 13 Samurais and Lord Naritsugu’s army. These Samurai’s display such bravery, cunning and smarts! And the dialog during these sequences really captures the outrage and indignation of the rebel mentality, special attention should be paid to the dialog in the last confrontation between a Samurai and Lord Naritsugu. During these sequences, the Samurai practically tells it like it is to the evil dictator. I loved that about the last half of the film, the honesty in the dialog. Also, I loved this sequence where the rebels don’t identify themselves with any political group or mentality; they call themselves “nobodies” because they are not siding with anyone but man. The are not fighting for a political ideology but for the basic human rights that we are all entitled too: the right to freedom and happiness. That’s what really matters in this world and that’s what we should all be willing to die for if need be. This could quite literally be Takashi Miike’s masterpiece. I do believe it is one of his best films, one of his most profound and relevant ones. It stands proudly next to other great Samurai films like Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), one of the most obvious influences over this picture.

Rating: 5 out of 5 

 

Yojimbo (1961)

Title: Yojimbo (1961)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Cast: Toshiro Mifune

In Yojimbo, we meet a nameless ‘Ronin’ (a masterless Samurai) who stumbles upon a town that is being ravaged by the animosity between to warring factions. These two factions have taken over the businesses of the town, and have driven it to fear and extreme poverty. Nobody walks the streets, everybody stays in their homes, and young men are running away to live their lives somewhere else, leaving everything behind, including family. When the Ronin arrives at this town he is greeted by a dog carrying a decaying human hand! A small yet poignant sign of how bad things are in this town. The Ronin immediately notices that there is something wrong and that things need to be made right again. When the Ronin is asked to leave this cursed town by a frightened restaurant owner, the Ronin replies “I’ll get paid for killing, and this town is full of people who deserve to die” Ladies and gents, welcome to the bleak world of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.

Akira Kurosawa was a master filmmaker, one of the best in the world. His films had a certain feeling to them, a certain sincerity which sticks with you long after you’ve watched them. His characters aren’t paper thin, they live and breathe and feel. Akira Kurosawa’s films never go by at a fast pace, in fact, he was a filmmaker that took his time in telling his stories, always mindful of the audience. He was of the mind that in order for a film to be successful, it had to be entertaining and easy for the audience to understand. If you’ve never experienced an Akira Kurosawa film, I recommend Rashomon (1950), Dreams (1990), or Seven Samurai (1954). These three films are just a small token of this esteemed directors filmography; a filmography that has gone on to influence many filmmakers from around the world.

For example, when Sergio Leone went on to make A Fist Full of Dollars (1964) he really set out to make a remake of Yojimbo. Leone confronted one problem after completing his film: he had not secured the rights to making the Yojimbo remake, so when Leone released A Fist Full of Dollars in Europe , Kurosawa sued. They settled for 100,000 for Kurosawa and a percentage of the films earnings and that was the end of that legal debacle. But when you watch A Fist Full of Dollars, what you are basically looking at is a western version of Yojimbo. Clint Eastwood plays the scruffy nameless loner who walks into a town at war with itself. He comes to make things right, by getting both sides to kill each other. A Fist Full of Dollars being a remake of Yojimbo makes perfect sense because when you look at it, Yojimbo plays out a lot like a western. Right down to the spooky ghost town where the wind is blowing non stop and there are showdowns in the middle of the street. This had a lot to do with the fact that Akira Kurosawa was very influenced by American Westerns.

For Yojimbo, Kurosawa was inspired by various elements, among them Dashiell Hammett’s novel Red Harvest. But Kurosawa was also influenced by a film that was also based on another one of Hammett’s novels, the film was The Glass Key (1942). In fact, Japanese film critics often criticized Kurosawa for being influenced by American films, a fact that he never denied. Yojimbo is a film that is filled with many trademark images that come straight out of American cowboy films. That shot of the lonely hero standing in the middle of the dusty road. The shot from behind the hero, as he faces off against his enemy, they all come from cowboy films. So what we got here is a sort of cinematic Ouroboros. Kurosawa fed off of John Ford films, Leone was inspired by Kurosawa; George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Takashi Miike all fed from Kurosawa and so on and so on…ad infinitum through out time. Films are like that, they have a way of continually influencing each other, Yojimbo being a good example of just that. Even Walter Hill made his own Yojimbo remake in 1999, he called his film Last Man Standing, which starred Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken. Last Man Standing had the same plot as Yojimbo, but set the story in a prohibition era Texas with gangsters and guns instead of samurais and swords. Recently, Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) borrowed heavily from Yojimbo, and I haven’t seen Miike’s 13 Assassins (2011), but I’m willing to bet it has a lot of Kurosawa in it. Just goes to show what in influential filmmaker Kurosawa was, Yojimbo being one of his most influential masterpieces.

Yojimbo has so many good things going for it. For example, I loved the dreadful mood that Kurosawa cast over the town. It feels as if death just walked through it, starting with the dog holding the human hand in its mouth. The black and white cinematography adds to the whole dreadful look. Kurosawa continued setting the dreadful atmosphere by starting the picture in a ghost town, with empty streets, and the constant  howl of the wind. Honest, good characters are scarce on this picture; most of the characters are despicable ones, caring only about their own personal interest. Always looking for a way to backstab and benefit from the other. In contrast to all that is the Ronin, a nameless vigilante who struts in the town and notices that things just aren’t right. Toshiro Mifune’s presence in this film is incredible, undeniable. At first glance he seems like a blood thirsty Samurai looking to make a couple of dollars, but then we realize he is much more then that. He is a character that wants to set things right in this town so that people can once again live in peace and harmony without all the bad elements hanging about. When a restaurant owner realizes the Ronin’s modus operandi, he smiles and tells him “you are not bad, you just act that way”. The Ronin is a character that you grow to like, he doesn’t look like a good guy, but his actions let you know otherwise.

Personally, I really loved Yojimbo. What held me on to it was Kurosawa’s storytelling style and Mifune’s strong performance. The way Kurosawa wrote the character, you feel like the Ronin is a character who has a genuine sense of what is right and wrong in this world. He’s on the side of ‘the people’, the good guys. The Kurosawa/Mifune combo came back for a sequel made just one year after Yojimbo, the sequel was called Sanjuro (1962). I’ll be reviewing that one in the next couple of days, look forward to that review. 

Rating: 5 out of 5