Onmyôji

This movie's plot is difficult to follow. If you rent the movie sit back and let the costumes, sets, imagination, and special effects take you away.

I think the director just had an idea to do a costume movie about wizards with special powers. He got everything but a compelling story

I rented this movie expecting it to be cool in certain ways, which only goes to prove the old adage: never judge a DVD by its cover. Especially not in a dusty, abandoned corner of your local Blockbuster. In any case, Onmyouji was pretty much not-cool at all in any of the ways I had anticipated coolness; its wholly unique brand of cool came from somewhere else, somewhere unexpected, somewhere completely different. In the end, that's what won me over -- Onmyouji is the cool you just don't expect.

Most of that cool stems from the acting and, therefore, from the characters themselves; the former operating on multiple levels of "fantastic" and the latter managing to intrigue, amuse and inspire great fondness by the movie's conclusion. I think the main joy of watching Onmyouji is Nomura Mansai's stellar performance; you get the picture early on that he's the real deal. He moves like some otherworldly spirit gracing his audience with his at once delicate and wry presence; some sort of living embodiment of mono no aware with a smirking edge and quirky eyebrows. I felt instinctively that it was an honor just to be watching him on my living room TV.

Sanada Hiroyuki, while I felt sometimes that he'd stumbled onto the wrong set by accident and then figured "Hey, what the hell, maybe I'll get paid," delivered a wonderful performance as well. I was a fan of his before this movie, and I remain a fan.

The special effects and some of the stages may be a bit on the cheap side but part of me feels that it was an intentional super-awareness of the movie-as-a-stage. The whole film watched and felt like traditional Japanese theatre, and not just because of Nomura Mansai's traditional Japanese theatre aura. As some sort of wild throwback to Murasaki Shikibu's classic and the literary tropes of Heian court culture, this film is a definite winner. Listen not to the people who were expecting a grand and lavish cinematic spectacular; this movie wanted to look like a stage and so it created one, on which its excellent stage actors excelled.

The movie's main character Seimei Abe was a real 11th century historical figure, but his life is shrouded in mystery. He is known to be the master of Onmyodo, or the way of yin and yang. He appears as the good guy that protects the emperor and other people who he associates with in this movie.

The movie is a period piece, but it's arranged to look modern, and appeals to the young and old alike. Abe no Seimei (Mansai Nomura) must work in a society where supernatural forces were still part of its landscape. He is on call to solve supernatural problems that occurs to the nobilities of the time including the newly born emperor's son.

The movie is beautifully made. There aren't heavy action in this movie, but the entire story is a sequence of intriguing events. Abe no Seimei goes on a competition with another onmyoji, and proves that he's the top in his field. He's then sought after to solve mysterious occurrences around the palace.

Acting by Mansai Nomura is spot on as Abe no Seimei. Other actors are equally good in their supporting roles. Movie is shot beautifully, but lacks realism, and appears more like a fantasy.Seimei is an unusual hero who the closest equivalent might be Marvel's Dr. Strange. If you like mystic adventure, this movie is for you.

An extraordinary period piece, Onmyoji masquerades as a simple fantasy morality tale, but it has many more layers than are immediately obvious. There's an enigmatic quality to the characters' relationships that actually makes the viewer think about what's taking place between the characters. Not only is it a strikingly beautiful film, but the performances are flawless all around. The story is fresh, the actors are interesting. With a couple of very minor exceptions, the special effects are interesting in a way that they often aren't in the standard American blockbuster. In some ways it's what Star Wars - wished- it were, but isn't. Now that Onmyoji is available on DVD, I hope it becomes more accessible in America. This film easily deserves the level of success attained by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

This film could have been fabulous, but rather weak direction and a mediocre budget drops it to the "Good" category in my book.

Its chief attraction is the wonderful world of Buddhist sorcery that it conjures up, sorcerers chanting macabre spells in contest with each other in chants of increasing tension and beauty. Central to the plot is the relationship of the enigmatic magician Abe no Seimei (Holmes) and his young "ii otoko" apprentice Minamoto no Hiromaki, strolling around Heian Kyoto solving mysterious magical crimes.

Abe no Seimei and all his graceful rituals is a joy to watch and hear. Mansai Nomura really get top acting chops here for creating a wonderfully wierd and brilliant magician with an unforgettable grin like a sly fox. His contests with the equally well acted Doson (Hiroyuki Sanada) are the heights of the film in my opinion.

There is so much wonderful magic in this film, it is hard to say why it is not totally satisfying. The costumes are brilliant, but many of the sets look a bit shoddy. The story starts out complex and mysterious but then sort of falls into one dimensional "end of the world" boredom. Nomura and Sanada are brilliant, but many of the other actors can be amateurish. Overall it was hard to put my finger on, but I blamed the direction and cinematography most. There just was so much here that could have made a masterpiece, but one left with mixed feelings.

Highly recommended though despite its flaws. If the idea of seeing 11th century Kyoto YinYang master magicians duel it out in all their occult glory fascinates you, don't miss this.