Samurai Assassino

Everything about this movie is powerful! The acting, the direction, the music and the cinematography are Japanese cinema at its best! I usually don't like narration but the narration in this film is awesome. The only thing I can compare it to is the sound of an Uzi being fired! Mifune, at his best, conveys brilliantly the complexities of the samurai/ronin mentality! The film moves frantically through time! Sometimes it is hard to tell past from present but the entire production is so well done that it all makes perfect sense if you just pay attention! This is one of the most brutal Japanese films I have ever seen. The final confrontation takes place in a snow storm and the comparison between the softly falling snow and the bloody battle it is falling on is chilling and surreal! Unlike some of these older films the transfer to video is clear as a bell with easy to read (if a bit hurried) subtitles.

I bought this film about a year ago and just got the opportunity to watch it last night. This film was beautiful brutality, simplistic complexity, unjust justice, and traditional tragedy. The sword duels are quick and brutal, the battle scene is long and horrific. The film jumps through time and space at a frantic pace with out warning. And yet the plot is slowly revealed through the hurried pace. I highly recommend this film that examines the complex psyche of Norii the Ronin. My only warning is that there is a lot of dialogue and it wears a little thin at some times. And the subtitles go by so fast at times it calls for some rewinding. The action is so fast in some parts you will want to watch in freeze frame. One scene looked so real, I would almost swear that they actually had to kill the guy. Go see this film now.

A first-class film that excels in script, cinematography and acting. It is difficult to name a lot of films that are so well conceived of and executed. The plot is amazing and the twists are well-crafted. The narrator seems an imposition at the start but as the film progresses it only adds to the mood. I found the movement (pace) of the film delightful, juxtaposed between the swift and the languid. Of course, for most of us outside the idiom of Japanese cinema the acting maybe described as melodramatic, but that's pretty much the norm there. And how can anyone not comment on the film's last scene - the snow, the blood, the twist of fate, the camera moves like an assassin itself. I highly recommend it.

I am rather disappointed in Kihachi Okamoto's Samurai Assassin. I am a huge fan of his 1966 film, Sword of Doom, which is, as far as I'm concerned, the best "pure" samurai film, at least on the same level as anything by Kurosawa. Samurai Assassin was made the previous year. It is about a siege around Edo castle, and concentrates on one warrior, played by Toshiro Mifune, who desperately wants to become a samurai. He has been turned down in the past, though, because his mother was a geisha and his father was unknown.

The script is the main culprit here. It's far too slow, and far too many names are dropped. For an American, anyway, it becomes increasingly difficult to process so many multi-syllabic Japanese names. Eventually, I didn't care at all about what was happening. Okamoto was obviously trying to go for the type of slow-build that was achieved, for example, in Misaki Kobayashi's excellent Sepukku (aka Hara-kiri, 1962), but the script is far too wordy.

For most of the 2 hour 2 minute run, I was just concentrating on the beautiful cinematography. The black and white in this film is truly exquisite. A few good scenes managed to pop up here and there. Fortunately, Samurai Assassin ends on a fantastic note. The final samurai battle is one of the best I've ever seen. Okamoto uses snow as a prop as well as Kurosawa uses rain (there is a great snow battle in Sword of Doom, as well), and the level of dramatic irony equals some of the best Greek tragedies. My final judgement: Samurai Assassin is worth watching if you are a fan of samurai movies, but it is not a high priority. It is definitely a don't-see for anyone who has never seen one of these films before (start with Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Hidden Fortress for starters) or anyone who is unsure of whether they would be entertained by something like this. 7/10.

The way that Kihachi Okamoto stages Samurai Assassin feels akin to that of a Shakespeare play, you always know who's in command of the scene by how everyone is positioned and how he moves his camera, making gorgeous use of the outdoor black and white photography and Tohoscope format. The first half is a deliberate slow burn, comprising excessive exposition and complex characterisations, sparsely populated by swift, decisive clashes of swords. The second showcases the ultimate downfall of those most revered by Japanese society, akin to that of a gritty crime-noir protagonist, and a final bout that rivals duels seen in the Zatoichi series. Punctuated by its prolonged genre-shattering monologues, the powerhouse performances of its cast, particularly that of the ever-captivating Toshiro Mifune and its spectacular climax will leave any fan of Okamoto's other works hungry for more.