Jipangu

My review was written in June 1990 after a screening at Japan House in Manhattan.

"Zipang" is a tongue-in-cheek samurai fantasy whose best U. S. chances would come in a dubbed version for action audiences.

Director Kaizo Hayashi scored with art film enthusiasts via his "To Sleep so as to Dream" (1986), followed by "Circus Boys", but this time has adopted too cutesy an approach to appeal to serious-minded Japanese film buffs. It's analogous to Joseph Losey's comic strip film "Modesty Blaise" as applied to the revered tradition of period samurai epics.

Already trimmed from its Japanese release version of 118 minutes to a better paced 100-minute cut for international distribution, pic is ripe for dubbing in its unusual use of flippant English subtitles. Characters are translated with vulgarisms and anachronistic hip expressions that lampoon the action.

Film proper includes anachronisms as well: infrared binoculars, morar shells and even a slide projector figure into the action set several centuries ago as a shogun seeks a legendary island kingdom of gold known as "Zipang" (which turns out to be Japan after all).

Hokey group of characters makes Kenneth Robeson's "Doc Savage" troupe look serious by comparison. Handsome swordsman Masahiro Takashima is painfully hip in his styling, with an okay gag (suitable for ripoff by "Saturday Night Live" or Mel Brooks) of him using numbered swords like golf clubs. In battle he calls out to his squire (or caddie) for "number 7" and the appropriate club is soon skewering hundreds of baddies one by one.

This comical mayhem creates an anticlimax early in the film in a bravura single-take overhead shot of him decimating over 50 warriors merely to cross a bridge.

Overload of subplots feature a shogun questing not only for gold but the meaning of love, a ridiculously modern girl (replete with Louise Brooks hairdo) named Yuri the Pistol who sparfs withbutsoon becomes enamored of Takahima, a ghostly ancient warrior helped by the heroes to finally unite wih his lost love, a queen, and a silly papier-mache type baby elephant.

The specter of Steven Spielberg hangs heavily over the proceedings, ranging from a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" sequence in a caver to a final gag lameduckedly spoofing the music and sharkfin image of "Jaws" En route Hayashi provides entertainment via speeded up camera action, nimble ninja cavortings (led by the comical Yukio Yamato) and some interesting special effects. The musical score, which owes more to Ennio Morricone than traditional Japanese samurai pics, is sprightly and effective.

Acting is over the top; and won't be seriously impeded by dubbing, especially the unconvincingly sentimental "timeless" love story.

Art director Takeo Kimura, in whose honor Japan Society hosted this U. S. premiere in Gotham., has used Aztec and Incan Monuments as his design inspiration to impressive effect.

This one has much of a debt to pay to the crazy magic sword epics of the Shaw brothers as well as the great samurai films of the sixties and seventies. A band of "outlaws" chance on a treasure that reveals the way to Zipang, the mythical land of gold. They inadvertently resurrect a wild man who looks like he's a Japanese Samoan. The treasure is coveted by the Shogun so he sends his army of blue ninjas after them. There's also Yuri, the Pistol Girl who's after the leader of the outlaws for the reward.

The list of crazy stuff that occurs is long but it's delivered in a well-directed and beautifully photographed package that doesn't skip on incredible fight scenes and a great music track. There are two long one-take fight scenes that have to seen. Almost nobody does those anymore. The army of ninjas is an army of ninjas, there are dozens of ninja actors. The lead actors are all great for this kind of entertainment. The art direction is also very good. There are a couple of gory sword stabbing and a touch of Lone Wolf style blood spurting but mostly the violence is bloodless.

Much better then I expected. Recommended if you are not in the mood for reality.

I'm hurt. Five out of ten? This is a wonderful film. It starts out in an updated idiom of Sonny Chiba's best Samurai fantasies and then progressively gets more and more eccentric and mythic. It's stylishly violent in places, comical, inventive, engaging and profound. It's genuinely a film to be discovered by a discerning few. Such a film could never be made in the West because the West no longer draws on its own legends and lore and has forfeited its own Romantic visions.

Set in a fantasy futuristic medieval Japan, 'Zipang' is a deliciously quirky action movie following the wacky adventures of outlaw Jigoku-goraku-Maru as he is pursued by a band of bounty hunters led by Teppo Oyuri otherwise known as Pistol Lily. During their escapades they meet a half naked guy and decide to help him recover the legendary sword thought to be the key to 'Zipang' – the city of gold where his lover is held hostage by the evil king.

The characters are interesting, requiring no real development due to their comic book style appeal. Director Kaizo Hayashi does a great job paying a tongue-in-cheek tribute to an era of classic martial arts characters including a not-so-blind samurai and a ninja displaying amazingly ability. The style over substance element means the film does slow down at points and the ridiculous plot doesn't give the viewer enough to cling on to. But who cares? The action scenes are excellent and the humour is great, remaining buoyant even when the plot spirals into absurdity.

Well , I've had enough with stupid movies, but this one has something in deep. Actually I could not find it, but this movie make me to laugh on some proper moments. The beginning was strange and I saw some well known characters like : Zatoichi - but this one could see, Sazen Tange, an European sword fighter(?!?) and a bunch of samurais waiting on a bridge just to be slayed by Jigoku's sword. If we ignore the idiotic idea of having assistants who passes the sword to Jigoku like golf sticks, we have a fairy tale. A queen of the sunless land, a weird tattooed nudist (this guy rock- in the beginning he just yells like a savage guy and almost everyone could kick his butt all the time. It was hilarious.) We do have a strange vision of love between Yuri the pistol and Jugoku. Well the pistols , rocket launchers and other stuff along with the faked midget elephant make this movie a tale about a strange world - as it is in: The NeverEnding Story. It's probably the same. Next thing is the quest of finding a treasure - a golden sword (ignore the strange useless shape of it) and funny ninja tricks. Just see the movie without having great expectations.