Ansatsu

Was confused by how much text there was at the start, but it ended up being needed, as there was a lot to take in and follow for someone like me, who only knows a small amount (at best) when it comes to Japanese history (I'm trying to learn though).

It meant the film wasn't always easy to follow, but enough came across for me to like it. Well-acted and Masahiro Shinoda shot it really well. Visually and thematically, it felt a little bit like a Masaki Kobayashi film at times.

I also liked some of the slightly new wave touches, particularly noticeable in the use of freeze frames every now and then. Was cool to see those techniques used in a historical film, because I'm more used to seeing them in contemporary (at the time) Japanese dramas.

Japanese drama set in the mid-19th century during the upheaval caused by the arrival of American warships, which led to political and social strife between the Imperial forces loyal to the emperor and the Shogunate forces who wanted to stay isolated. The latter decides to recruit a notorious ronin samurai named Kiyokawa (Tetsuro Tamba) to form a ronin guard to strike at Imperialist sympathizers. Much of the film is comprised of flashbacks as various characters reminisce about Kiyokawa and what they've seen and heard about him, with some painting him as a principled man of wisdom and mercy, and others as a phony lower class murderer.

Those looking for typical samurai action thrills will be disappointed, as this is a straight-faced drama and character examination. Tamba, a very capable actor who has assayed both heroes and villains to good effect in many other films, is well cast as the ambiguous Kiyokawa. The movie may be a bit too cluttered and fragmentary to be very effective, although director Masahiro Shinoda (Pale Flower, Samurai Spy) manages some striking B&W imagery here and there.

Japan in 1863: American warships under Perry come to Japan. Realizing they cannot fight modern forces, the 200-year-old Tokugawa Shogunate signs a treaty. This triggers a call for restoration of the Emperor's power and a death-to-foreigners movement. The Shogun is almost immediately assassinated. The new Shogun tries to ally with the Emperor through marriage, but prepares a back-up plan. Master swordsman Tetsurô Tanba. He is a ronin, a masterless samurai, and the son of a farmer. Though accomplished in the sword and the arts, he is despised by the hereditary samurai. With Tokugawa backing, he begins to assemble an army of ronin to march of the Imperial palace at Edo. Soon, he is exceeding instructions, and the Tokugawa plan a further backup. Eiji Okada orders Isao Kimura to be ready to assassinate Tanba. The Shogunate doesn't know what Tanba is up to. His old death-to-foreigners-and-up-the-Emperor confederates don't know what he is up to. The Palace at Edo issues no decrees. Does he know what he's doing?

Masahiro Shinoda's movie is a long and confusing examination of the cruelty and viperous nature of late Tokugawa Japan, the decadent end of that phase of Japanese history. It's filled with many startling images, offered in black-and-white factuality, that removes any trace of romance from the story; even the love story of Tanba and Shima Iwashita, whom he rescues from a brothel, is filled with pain and anguish. It's as effective a condemnation of Old Japan -- and by inference, New Japan -- as anything that Kurosawa did.

This rarely-seen Japanese film centres around a mysterious wandering ronin Hachiro Kiyokawa (Tetsuro Tanba) as he juggles between the Shogunate and the Emperor sympathisers in 19th-century Japan. As the pre-credits text informs us (in detail), four American warships arrived in 1853, upsetting the political balance in Japan, as the country divides into the Liberal Shogunate, and the Imperialists who want all foreign influence banished. Kiyokawa's story is told by various supporting players in flashback and the film jumps around a detailed timeline. We never know or fully understand Kiyokawa's intentions and political preference as he proves unpredictable and at time, extremely ruthless.

The film is more of a political thriller than a traditional samurai film, full of conversations in dark rooms, back-stabbings, bargains and power-shifts. Director Masahiro Shinoda never feels like he has to make it easy for the audience to follow, as the large cast of minor players are never fully developed enough, so it's difficult to keep up with who is who. This, I feel, works both for and against the film. It is on one hand highly intelligent and intellectually stimulating, but on the other hand it allows the plot to become convoluted. It's a shame because I would like to have had time to soak up the mysterious atmosphere, and the beautiful cinematography on show. It is though, as a whole, a very good film, and one I will watch again when I get the chance, in order to wrap my tiny brain around the complex plot.

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I like samurai movies, especially those that delve into areas that the run-of-the mill samurai movie does not (Rashomon, Hari-Kiri for example); but, this movie was confusing and really just not that good. I think the director was trying to prove something but, for the life of me, I don't know what. The freeze-frames throughout were annoying after awhile and didn't have the impact he thought they would.

The ending was anti-climactic... a sad thing all around...