Goyokin: La terreur des sabaï

From the truly creepy opening to the climax, this movie holds your attention, both with its cinematography and (more preciously) a gripping and coherent storyline.

Excellent filming techniques in this film hold your attention, when the suspense (yes! actual suspense!) doesn't. The acting (by Nakadai Tatsuya, one of Japan's greatest actors -- far better than Mifune Toshiro, IMHO) is top notch. Finally, the violence (though there's plenty) never degenerates into splatter. The violence appears much more disturbing (intentionally so) and much less titillating than in many "chambara" movies.

Also noteworthy, this movie plays on the "loyalty vs. morality" theme that Gosha seems so fond of hammering. In this particular movie, however, he really pulls it off with some intelligence. Though I'm a big fan of Gosha, I have to admit that not everything he touches turns to "gold" (Get it? You will...).

Even so, if you're going to sample from the "chambara" genre, this is among the best (my other nominee would be "Hitokiri/Tenchu" (1969). Frankly, I think it's among the best Japanese films, period.

This is a special beast of a samurai film because of several things.

For starters it is often compared unfavorably to "Sword of Doom" (completely nihilist B&W psycho samurai also starring Tatsuya Nakadai as a clone of his Yojimbo character). Quite frankly, Goyokin is far superior in nuance, photography and character depth. It holds that edge and an inherent darkness that is exquisitely explored visually over most samurai films in existence: more poetic than Zatôyichi (2003, Kitano), better filmed and written than Sword of Doom (1966, Okamoto), less remote than Ran (1985, Kurosawa) and darker and deeper than Yojimbo (1961, also Kurosawa); the only samurai to best this is Seven Samurai.

Tatsuya Nakadai comes across as three-dimensional, which is a departure from most chambara film heroes, and tormented but eminently likable. Every character is given sufficient growth and motive. Masaru Sato gives us one of his finest scores ever (the other being that of Yojimbo). The photography defeats any samurai film that could possibly cross your mind (yes, even Ran and by a narrow margin Seven samurai's stark B&W beauty)! The fights have a sincere brutality and make the most of their environment... There is little else to add... well no maybe there is. Don't go in expecting pop-corn entertainment but rather something deeper more complex.

I've heard that Inagaki's Samurai trilogy was Japan's "Gone With the Wind", Red Beard it's "Titanic" and Seven Samurai its ultimate western... if so, "Goyokin" is its "Lawrence of Arabia"!

Goyokin is one of those movies that I wanna scream from the rooftops just how incredibly awesome they are. The kind of film I wanna grab every person I know by the neck and force them to watch it with eyes wide open, Clockwork Orange style. It's really a cinematic crime that Goyokin is not as widely seen and regarded as the works of more famous Japanese directors, like Kurosawa. It might be a genre movie and as such attract mostly chambara fans, but this really deserves to reach more mainstream audiences. Put simply, if you like beautiful movies, you have to see this one.

The plot concerns a clan that is struggling financially who schemes to steal a shipment of the Shogun's gold and silence the nearby villagers who witness the crime and the ronin Magobei (played by the unparalleled Tatsuya Nakadai) who makes a moral stand and decides to go against his former clan. I won't go too far into plot details, but let's just say Goyokin is an anti-samurai film at heart. Like the best work of that other great jidai-geki director, Masai Kobayashi, Hideo Gosha doesn't try to pass moral judgement on his characters and treats them with compassion and affection. We're in 1830 and these are hard times for samurais as Japan finds herself on the brink of change. As one character realises in the end, "We sit here and die in the cold, and what does the Shogunate do? They get fatter in the heat". Gosha doesn't condemn the samurais for their soon to be obsolete code, rather puts things into perspective and shows us that desperate people will do desperate things. Innocent people die but who is really responsible for these crimes? It plays out like a good ancient Greek tradegy, minus the melodrama. Every emotion is incredibly nuanced here, every glance, move and frame. Gosha wisely lets the visuals tell the story.

And that brings me to the next point. The visuals. I am not exaggerating when I say that Goyokin is one of the most beautiful movies ever conceived. Yes better than most Kurosawa films, if the comparison has any merit. The colours are like small strokes of a brush on a white canvas as most of the film was shot outdoors in snowy landscapes. The rugged terrain is a pivotal character here, from the stormy sea to the blizzards to the open vistas. The cinematography and the way Gosha treats the locations as an integral part of every scene, reminded me of the spaghetti westerns of the great Sergio Corbucci (Django, The Great Silence). The muddy streets of a small town (as in Django). The snow blizzards and the cold, hostile terrain (as in The Great Silence). Samurais trying to prevent frostbite from setting in before a duel, unable to pick up their swords and fight. That nature is so tightly interwoven to the plot is another testament to Gosha's attention to detail. His cinematography is truly outstanding. I simply can't stress how visually awe-inspiring this movie is. Every frame is a painting. In a way it brought to mind the maestro Sergio Leone. After all the jidai-geki and the spaghetti western are very similar in the ways they depict their scarred heroes, the duel and the terrain.

I don't know what else to say about Goyokin. The performances are great all around with Ruriko Asaoka stealing every scene she's in, not least thanks to her drop dead gorgeous looks. Tatsuya Nakadai is once again outstanding in the lead role. The swordplay is fantastic, quick and brutal thrusts of the sword with an emphasis on the ritualistic aspect of the duel. The silence before and after. Although not as bloody and action-oriented as something like Lone Wolf and Cub, Goyokin left me more than satisfied in that department.

There's not much else to add, except that Goyokin is criminally underseen (judging by the amount of votes here). Maybe in the years to come western audiences will open up their horizons and realize what they've been missing. In the meantime if you're reading this, seek this movie out. You won't regret it.

A remorseful samurai struggles to reconcile clan loyalty with honourable behaviour after turning a blind eye to the massacre of innocent villagers to cover up the theft of gold intended for the Tokugawa shogunate. Thematically similar to director Hideo Gosha's other chanbara, this film takes a hard look at the unquestioning obedience demanded of underlings in feudal societies and how the honour and fidelity can be manipulated to dishonorable and wicked ends. The three leads, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kinnosuke Nakamura, and Tetsuro Tamba, all well-established actors in Japanese cinema (both in jidaigeki and other genres), are excellent. The cinematography, which includes some fanciful imagery is great, the story interesting, and the 'action sequences' well-done and entertaining. All in all, a great entry in the popular genre from a top Japanese director.

I saw "Goyokin" in 1969 at a small theater in Yokohama, Japan. It was in Japanese, of course, but the evolution of the story was understood. The film was so well done, and beyond what I was used to as an American watching Japanese movies in Japan. The acting was superb and the tension was palpable. The story was unique and its presentation was gorgeous. It's not hyperbole to say I was awestruck. With the advent of VHS I began searching for this movie as a video. After years of searching, I bought a barely watchable re-re-re-reprint with multiple subtitles. I was happy to HEAR the movie again! Tom ("Billy Jack") Loughlin made the putrid, displaced "The Master Gunfighter" but it was ludicrous as a Western. I will never understand why this classic has not been produced as a Video! Obviously, many people know about it, and it appears on wish lists throughout the world. It deserves the full DVD treatment and, PLEASE, while the great Tatsuya Nakadai is still alive to provide commentary on it.