Zatoichi, o Fugitivo

I recently rewatched Zatoichi: The Fugitive (1963) on a random streaming service. The story follows our hero, Zatoichi, who is framed for a crime by the local Yakuza-leading to a bounty hunter being hired to track and kill him. Meanwhile, an old flame resurfaces at a most inopportune time...

Directed by Tokuzô Tanaka (The Demon of Mount Oe), the film stars Shintarô Katsu (Hanzo the Razor), Miwa Takada (Yokai Monsters), and Masayo Banri (The Depths).

The cinematography is top-tier-from the stunning backdrops to the framing of each character and the dynamic execution of every action sequence. The film does a remarkable job of showcasing the culture organically, without making it the focus. The opening sumo wrestling scene is a standout: an unexpected and entertaining way to reintroduce our hero. It's also a treat to see a youthful Shintarô Katsu in these early entries.

The sword fights are sudden, stylish, and brilliantly choreographed. The buildup to the final showdown is strong, and the duel itself delivers. As for the romantic subplot-true to form for Zatoichi-it's bittersweet, and he remains a heartbreaker.

In short, Zatoichi: The Fugitive is a masterclass in filmmaking, cultural texture, and heroic storytelling. I'd give it an 8/10 and strongly recommend it.

This fourth Zatoichi film in fourteen months

The recurrence of a lost love might have made for an interesting change of pace, and change of tone for this series, but that mostly takes second stage to a contrived, yet shallow, story of redemption, without much resolution.

The climactic battles are reasonably good here, but it all feels alternately a bit too choreographed, and poorly choreographed, as the innumerable thugs all seem to politely wait their turn to attack Ichi, who barely gives them a passing glance, before they fall over dead, bloodlessly, and without even so much as a tear to their clothing.

I found the sake bottle scene to be too silly of a gimmick, like the slicing of candles with his sword, as well.

Still watchable, though, but a drop in quality from the earlier installments.

Zatoichi, the Fugitive is the fourth entry in the franchise and the second film to be shot in color. It's the second of three films released within the same year. The movie starts with Zatoichi being attacked by an inexperienced yakuza who wants to earn the bounty on Zatoichi's head. Zatoichi easily kills his opponent and wants to find out who wants to pay the reward for seeing him dead. The blind masseur travels to a nearby town where he confesses to the bounty hunter's mother that he killed her son. While the mother pardons Zatoichi, a group of samurai wants to avenge the bounty hunter's death. As if that weren't enough, Zatoichi also has to deal with the weak inheritor of a local yakuza who seeks Zatoichi's help but who is also pressured to kill Zatoichi by his peers to prove his strength. In addition to this, Zatoichi meets Otane again, a woman he carried passionate feelings for in the first two films. He realizes she is unhappily married to a quick-tempered ronin and decides to challenge him. Soon, Zatoichi has to face a group of vindictive samurai, a mean ronin and an untrustworthy inheritor all at once.

The main problem with this film is that the plot is at times tough to follow with its numerous characters. It's not always clear why and when the inheritor changes his mind and is Zatoichi's partner, just to become his opponent and to end up supporting him once again. The numerous yakuza bosses and their motives for wanting Zatoichi dead are also quite confusing. Even the return of Otane is somewhat strange as she seems to be torn between Zatoichi and her husband. In one scene, she almost romantically walks around with Zatoichi and opens up to him about how her life has changed for the worse and the next day she apparently tries to trick him in order to kill him and get the bounty on his head. The movie would have been much more enjoyable with less characters who have clearer objectives. This film's epic proportions made me feel lost at times.

On the positive side, the wild Japanese landscapes and colourful towns are still fascinating to watch and especially the abandoned house in the meadows where the final showdown happens is a gorgeous location. The final fight sequences are beautifully and cleverly choreographed. The entertaining last twenty minutes save the movie from being just average or worse.

In the end, Zatoichi, the Fugitive is the weakest film of the franchise so far but it's saved by a fast-paced closing twenty minutes and the charming use of traditional rural Japanese locations. Fans and followers of the franchise can give this film a try but occasional fans of Chanbara or samurai films can skip this entry without any regrets.

The following review is an extract from the book "Shintaro Katsu´s Zatoichi: Complete guide to all movies", which is now available on Amazon.

"(...) Zatoichi agrees to be transported in a jinrikisha (a type of proto-taxi in Japan of the Tokugawa era, and other Asian countries). Persecutors who want to kill the blind man see how he rides the vehicle, as they keep a close watch on him. At the edge of the road, Zatoichi and his carriers meet a woman with a baby who feels unwell. Chivalrously, Zatoichi proposes to the mother to get into the car in his place; he will continue on foot. A few meters ahead, the jinrikisha is attacked, the killers strung the person inside thinking that it is Zatoichi ... and killing instead the young mother (...).

(...) Zatoichi, who feels responsible for the tragedy, decides to take the baby to the town of Miyagi to give it to her father Unosuke, the husband of the deceased.

(...) This issue is the eighth sequel to the excellent "Zatoichi monogatari" (Kenji Misumi, 1962). The director of every film about the adventures of the blind swordsman is not always the great Kenji Misumi, but this is the case in this "Zatoichi kessho-tabi" that we are dealing with today, and whose international title in English comes to be, without much sense, "Fight, Zatoichi, fight". We say without much meaning because that title is not necessarily descriptive of the film (Zatoichi fights in all his films), and we are inclined to think that it is not the literal translation from Japanese either.

One might mistake this for the first Zatôichi in colour, so bold are the colours during the opening credits that they'd challenge even Imamura's hyper-lush "Kamigami no yakubo" (1968).

What the films achieve wonderfully is that they still allow the necessary plotting to take its time. In modern fare I think we'd be having all the quiet moments and hesitations removed, let alone all the human drama. Thus the film really has genuinely suspenseful moments and genuine drama. Otane reappears, and we are allowed to see a loose end tied in the drama.

I'm going through the films in chronological order just now. It will be interesting to see where the series goes as it matures; these early films have all been very brilliant.