Jipangu

Very odd Japanese, fantasy movie, that mixes up a lot of fun Martial Arts and comedy, with some really strange supernatural goings on. Difficult to rate because there is not much to compare with, past or present. As far as originality goes it's certainly 'Out There'. sort of like that popular TV show 'Monkey' but not quite.

I saw Zipang on midnite madness TV the other day. Fun little film, the Japanese equivalent of a 70's Shaw brothers production. The same cast of hundreds, same lame wigs, same cheap/charming production values and tight shooting schedule.

The plot is simple a sword master and his group of friends; a midget, a bomb expert (who blew his nose off), a geek (with glasses so you know the filmmakers aren't striving for historical accuracy), and...a small rubber elephant (no joke you have to see it and then maybe you can explain it to me) must get a golden sword before a gang of ninjas, a rival gang of thieves does the same. The sword has magical powers and belongs to a Golden King who lives in a Golden Kingdom. The plot isn't all that important, the set piece battles are. These are done with great flair even if the swords do wobble rubbery from time to time. Thrown in some cheap SFX (the matte painting looks like a Betamax pause still), a lot of references to other movies and video games (actually the whole movie is a lot like a video game come to life) and you have a lovable, scruffy little mess that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Well worth seeing if you like old kung-fu movies, definitely great in its category.

Well , I've had enough with stupid movies, but this one has something in deep. Actually I could not find it, but this movie make me to laugh on some proper moments. The beginning was strange and I saw some well known characters like : Zatoichi - but this one could see, Sazen Tange, an European sword fighter(?!?) and a bunch of samurais waiting on a bridge just to be slayed by Jigoku's sword. If we ignore the idiotic idea of having assistants who passes the sword to Jigoku like golf sticks, we have a fairy tale. A queen of the sunless land, a weird tattooed nudist (this guy rock- in the beginning he just yells like a savage guy and almost everyone could kick his butt all the time. It was hilarious.) We do have a strange vision of love between Yuri the pistol and Jugoku. Well the pistols , rocket launchers and other stuff along with the faked midget elephant make this movie a tale about a strange world - as it is in: The NeverEnding Story. It's probably the same. Next thing is the quest of finding a treasure - a golden sword (ignore the strange useless shape of it) and funny ninja tricks. Just see the movie without having great expectations.

Jigoku-goraku-Maru (JGM or roughly translated as "Hellraiser") is a swordsman for hire, traveling with his band of mercenaries in feudal Japan. JGM is constantly being pursued by innumerable bounty hunters and other fortune seekers trying to collect the bounty on his head. One of those hunters is the beautiful Teppo Oyuri (aka Pistol Lily) who is an expert in Western Firearms and a deadly markswoman. During their travels, JGM and his mates happen across a map that supposedly leads them to a fortune in gold. What they find instead is a Golden Sword with incredible powers, that is the key to finding the legendary City of Gold, Zipang (Portuguese for Japan). Unfortunately for him, this unleases a string of events which culminate with JGM and company traveling to the very halls of Zipang to do battle with its Warlord King and his "Haniwa" henchmen.

Zipangu is surprisingly similar in style to the recent Wild Wild West (1999) movie and Original CBS TV Series. While predating the Wild Wild West movie by nine years, Zipangu could easily be called a Japanese "Wild Wild West" type of saga. Like WWW's James West, JGM is a feudal samurai who is decidedly and strangely modern. JGM's "Neo-Samurai" attire fuses Western influences (leather) with Japanese (silk). He carries a cache of wicked swords and stores them much like a golfer his golfing clubs. In a hilarious and elaborate opening sequence, JKG goes through his arsenal of swords one right after another, dependant on the opponent his is facing. Even his vernacular is a wierd mixture of modern slang and feudal speak.

Director Hayashi has a flair for parody as he literally borrows and lampoons all the various Samurai Movie conventions. One delightful highlight includes JKG's encounter with a all too familiar Blind Masseur (Zatoichi?) who turns out to be able to see after all. The Ninja (Shinobi-Nin) opponents whom JKG encounters throughout the film are also a joy to watch as they incorporate and wield various "modern" type of devices and gadgets that would make Wild Wild West's Artemus Gordon green with envy.

While the pacing is a bit slow at times and the story is an exercise in style rather than substance, the movie as a whole is quite enjoyable and a feast for the eyes. Not for the overly serious and a must for Japanese cinema fans.

My review was written in June 1990 after a screening at Japan House in Manhattan.

"Zipang" is a tongue-in-cheek samurai fantasy whose best U. S. chances would come in a dubbed version for action audiences.

Director Kaizo Hayashi scored with art film enthusiasts via his "To Sleep so as to Dream" (1986), followed by "Circus Boys", but this time has adopted too cutesy an approach to appeal to serious-minded Japanese film buffs. It's analogous to Joseph Losey's comic strip film "Modesty Blaise" as applied to the revered tradition of period samurai epics.

Already trimmed from its Japanese release version of 118 minutes to a better paced 100-minute cut for international distribution, pic is ripe for dubbing in its unusual use of flippant English subtitles. Characters are translated with vulgarisms and anachronistic hip expressions that lampoon the action.

Film proper includes anachronisms as well: infrared binoculars, morar shells and even a slide projector figure into the action set several centuries ago as a shogun seeks a legendary island kingdom of gold known as "Zipang" (which turns out to be Japan after all).

Hokey group of characters makes Kenneth Robeson's "Doc Savage" troupe look serious by comparison. Handsome swordsman Masahiro Takashima is painfully hip in his styling, with an okay gag (suitable for ripoff by "Saturday Night Live" or Mel Brooks) of him using numbered swords like golf clubs. In battle he calls out to his squire (or caddie) for "number 7" and the appropriate club is soon skewering hundreds of baddies one by one.

This comical mayhem creates an anticlimax early in the film in a bravura single-take overhead shot of him decimating over 50 warriors merely to cross a bridge.

Overload of subplots feature a shogun questing not only for gold but the meaning of love, a ridiculously modern girl (replete with Louise Brooks hairdo) named Yuri the Pistol who sparfs withbutsoon becomes enamored of Takahima, a ghostly ancient warrior helped by the heroes to finally unite wih his lost love, a queen, and a silly papier-mache type baby elephant.

The specter of Steven Spielberg hangs heavily over the proceedings, ranging from a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" sequence in a caver to a final gag lameduckedly spoofing the music and sharkfin image of "Jaws" En route Hayashi provides entertainment via speeded up camera action, nimble ninja cavortings (led by the comical Yukio Yamato) and some interesting special effects. The musical score, which owes more to Ennio Morricone than traditional Japanese samurai pics, is sprightly and effective.

Acting is over the top; and won't be seriously impeded by dubbing, especially the unconvincingly sentimental "timeless" love story.

Art director Takeo Kimura, in whose honor Japan Society hosted this U. S. premiere in Gotham., has used Aztec and Incan Monuments as his design inspiration to impressive effect.