Friday, June 17, 2005
Friday Movie Review
I didn't get to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith (sold out) last Saturday, so I'll review an old Japanese movie, released in 1966, known here as Sword of Doom but the original title is Dai-bosatsu toge, literally Daibosatsu Pass, where the movie begins. The lead is Tatsuya Nakadai, born in 1932 and still alive today. Fans of samurai flicks will remember him from Yojimbo, it's sequel Sanjuro (one of the best endings in movie history) and the near sublime, if only it had some humor, Seppuku. Art house goers will remember him from Ran and Kagemusha, both late Akira Kurasawa entries into a near unbroken string of great movies. I liked him in a little seen, perfect gem of a movie, High and Low, also by Kurasawa, with a modern setting. But back to the film.
I think that the Japanese idealize their pre-Meiji restoration sword masters the way we idealize (at times) our gunslingers (from about the same period). But while I really like the gritty realism of The Unforgiven and Bad Company, I also enjoy the slightly less realistic westerns where the guns come out like lightning and shoot with exquisite accuracy without the gunslinger even bringing it up to his eyes. I see I'm digressing again.
Sword of Doom is halfway between unreal ability and stark realism. It starts out with Nakadai (playing swordsman Ryunosuke Tsukue) walking over the pass wearing one of those elaborate straw hats/baskets over his head. He overhears an old man lamenting that he is a burden to his granddaughter, and he kills the old man. It is the first of many, many murders. There are an interwoven series of stories about people effected by that act, but the focus is all Nakadai. He specializes in playing people with otherworldly intensity, verging on madness. He is a very handsome man, but there's something about his eyes. When he gets the 1,000 year stare going, he's in the zone.
All his character in this film cares about is getting better with the sword. He's pretty good to begin with, but begins to turn to the dark side, well, within 5 minutes of the movie's start. He uses what is called a cruel style. I've seen this movie 6 or 7 times and I still don't know what that means. He draws his opponents in, I guess, with an open stance/defense and then beats them (at formal duels with wooden swords) or kills them everywhere else. He leans forward with the sword en guarde and then draws it slowly down to his side and back daring his opponent to try to get to him. Did I mention there were a lot of murders in this movie?
One irony is that the wife of an inferior fencer with whom Nakadai is to have a wooden sword duel sleeps with Nakadai to get him to go easy on her husband. Unfortunately the husband finds out about the tryst and, enraged, tries to kill Nakadai who kills him first (with a wooden sword to the face). Big help from the little lady there. She takes up with Nakadai as he becomes a disgraced fencer/professional killer. Later Nakadai kills her and their kid. Real turning to the dark side, there. He can't beat one guy, played (uncredited) by Toshiro Mifune. His disgrace, failure, guilt all come back to him in a Geisha house and he goes completely nuts and fights and kills nearly every man there (it seemed like there were about 50).
I guess this is what passed for a psychological portrait of a sociopath in mid 60s Japan. If you watch it a few times, it all falls together. The first time you see it, it is shocking. The great joy is watching the first duel; it is exquisite. "The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword." says Nakadai's master. That's the pseudo profound level of discourse found through out the film. It's black and white but very beautiful, 119 minutes long, little sex, no nudity, and very, very violent. Roger Bob says check it out.
I think that the Japanese idealize their pre-Meiji restoration sword masters the way we idealize (at times) our gunslingers (from about the same period). But while I really like the gritty realism of The Unforgiven and Bad Company, I also enjoy the slightly less realistic westerns where the guns come out like lightning and shoot with exquisite accuracy without the gunslinger even bringing it up to his eyes. I see I'm digressing again.
Sword of Doom is halfway between unreal ability and stark realism. It starts out with Nakadai (playing swordsman Ryunosuke Tsukue) walking over the pass wearing one of those elaborate straw hats/baskets over his head. He overhears an old man lamenting that he is a burden to his granddaughter, and he kills the old man. It is the first of many, many murders. There are an interwoven series of stories about people effected by that act, but the focus is all Nakadai. He specializes in playing people with otherworldly intensity, verging on madness. He is a very handsome man, but there's something about his eyes. When he gets the 1,000 year stare going, he's in the zone.
All his character in this film cares about is getting better with the sword. He's pretty good to begin with, but begins to turn to the dark side, well, within 5 minutes of the movie's start. He uses what is called a cruel style. I've seen this movie 6 or 7 times and I still don't know what that means. He draws his opponents in, I guess, with an open stance/defense and then beats them (at formal duels with wooden swords) or kills them everywhere else. He leans forward with the sword en guarde and then draws it slowly down to his side and back daring his opponent to try to get to him. Did I mention there were a lot of murders in this movie?
One irony is that the wife of an inferior fencer with whom Nakadai is to have a wooden sword duel sleeps with Nakadai to get him to go easy on her husband. Unfortunately the husband finds out about the tryst and, enraged, tries to kill Nakadai who kills him first (with a wooden sword to the face). Big help from the little lady there. She takes up with Nakadai as he becomes a disgraced fencer/professional killer. Later Nakadai kills her and their kid. Real turning to the dark side, there. He can't beat one guy, played (uncredited) by Toshiro Mifune. His disgrace, failure, guilt all come back to him in a Geisha house and he goes completely nuts and fights and kills nearly every man there (it seemed like there were about 50).
I guess this is what passed for a psychological portrait of a sociopath in mid 60s Japan. If you watch it a few times, it all falls together. The first time you see it, it is shocking. The great joy is watching the first duel; it is exquisite. "The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword." says Nakadai's master. That's the pseudo profound level of discourse found through out the film. It's black and white but very beautiful, 119 minutes long, little sex, no nudity, and very, very violent. Roger Bob says check it out.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:05 AM 
