RE: The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi - Movie Review
I remember seeing this film on the big screen. It must have been in the early 2000s at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Just checked the date and it must have been February 2004, almost 15 years ago. I believe that - at that time - I had already seen two or three films directed by Takeshi Kitano. This one became my favorite, so far.
I clearly remember the choreography of the farmer's work to create a soundtrack and agree that most of Kitano's films have a certain kind of humour to them. Which does the trick, at times. No matter what, it's certainly some kind of trademark of his. It must be the nature of the beast.
You also reminded me of a Zatoichi trilogy that I watched in 2009. That year, I was living in an apartment in Madrid for a couple of months. One of my roommates was a filmmaker and cinephile, like me. He showed me these three Samourai films from the 1960s. I tried to look them up, just now, but I find about a dozen of Zatoichi's from the 1960s so I can't pinpoint the exact titles.
No matter what, they were worth watching and I'm sure they inspired Kitano's take on this story.
Thanks for the feedback. I think I looked up and watched one of the older ones as well, around the time I watched this version. An interesting character to build a film around.
Cool and I agree, it's definitely an interesting character :>)
Just curious, how much have you seen of Japanese cinema and what did you like, so far?
I don't watch a lot of Japanese cinema. I have seen more Korean. Old Boy is probably my favorite. I recently reviewed the Japanese film "Departures" which was an excellent film. For horror, "The Ring" was certainly memorable.
I see. I have seen way more Japanese cinema than Korean ( mainly due to anime ) but the last decade or so I am probably watching more Korean live action films than Japanese.
Talking about the Ring, are you referring to the original Ringu? That one was pretty creepy indeed. So were The 4 original Ju-On The Grudge and Ju-On: The Curse movies, from the early 2000s.
Now I come to think of it, I have probably seen more Japanese than Korean films, as I was into horror for quite a while. Loads of Asian horror movies seem to be made in Japan.
Most (South) Korean films I enjoyed, were of different genres. Take for instance the work of Kim Ki Duk. I've seen over a handful of his films on The Rotterdam Film Festival.
A very recent Korean film I found worth watching is Burning. Have you heard of it?
P.S. The Old Boy trilogy is definitely worth seeing too :>)
Seen ringu and the ju-on films. Missed burning which was in limited release here. Went away too quick. Castaway on the moon is an interesting Korean film I would recommend. The old boy trilogy was great. Although I didn’t love thirst (noynpart of the trilogy)