Owls' Castle

And it had so much potential. Fukuro no shiro aka Owl's Castle had the budget and story to be a Japanese epic that might have ranked with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As it is, it fails to even match the Chinese masterpiece, The Emperor and the Assassin. The first thing that grabs you is the beautiful photography and splendid costumes. A very good looking film. But the potentially stirring tale of a Ninja who seeks revenge against a warlord who destroyed his clan is ruined by needless complications including tedious political subtexts, as well as a hair pulling pace. The hero named Juzo underplays his role with too much restraint, thus making it difficult to get emotionally involved with his character. Also frustrating was the underplayed concept of a female Ninja who ultimately becomes the hero's love interest.

But nothing was as frustrating as the restraint placed upon the action. Here we have a tale in medieval Japan with feuding warlords and Ninja's, so you would think we might see some serious mind blowing sword play ala Hong Kong -- but it's as if the action was treated as a secondary consideration. There is some sword play, but the camera doesn't follow the action, as if we were watching the events unfold on a stage. And the final battle, which could have made everything else forgivable, fails to deliver. In the end, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is perhaps the finest example of a film that balances a sweeping drama with jaw dropping action. Too bad the same thing cannot be said of the potential masterpiece that is Fukuro no shiro.

This is a serious film made for Japanese people, not an action-drama made for Americans. When will Americans stop thinking that we have an inherently superior culture? We don't. No one does. Life imitates art, and the Japanese people are a serious people, but know how to play hard too. This movie has both serious elements throughout, and a playful morality play some of the time, and part action too. Fukurou no Shiro has many deep elements of drama and film greatness- too many to cover in such a short review. A few of these deep elements are intense art, intense scenery and props, and an intense subliminal story of great depth. Even more than all these, the film and its story reveal a great deal about Japanese people and culture. Some reviews keep repeating "too reserved", but this is one of the most crucial aspects of real Japanese culture in existence. If this movie is for the Japanese people to enjoy fully, then it will have to be a reserved story. The pace is also slow. So what? That is to tell a story, not to produce a fast plot. The art of storytelling is the oldest and most refined art in existence. It takes time to tell a good story. The art in this film is fabulous, as is the scenery. The meticulous detail in many of the outdoor scenes is astounding. No other country could do this- I am sure of this. It would take too much time. Here is a revelation for those in the west: art has no time limit. Art is limitless, as close to eternal as any human endeavor can be- so it can sometimes best be expressed not in a rush. The same goes for people's personalities. While it can be said that most of the characters are somewhat two dimensional, at the same time, some of the core characters portray layers of complexity, and a few of the political leaders are able to do this as well even given only a few minutes of screen time. The morality plays are kept subdued and minimal, but the core elements of those are persistent as the determination of the lead character to complete his job. Two of these lessons are: traitors are not forgiven, and a person with integrity will stick with a task if an important one, or if he or she has given a commitment to do it. Loyalty to the clan is also important (a component of lesson no. 1). This film from the late 1990s is perhaps a culmination of a proud people that long ago completed a major rebound after a long emergence from feudalism; and has realized there are core elements of Japanese culture that are impossible for others to imitate, but if they could it would benefit them. The need to imitate western culture has passed. With art and drama this good, Japan culture is accurately portrayed as fully relevant to itself, complete, something profound and significant in the world, and an example of integrity for other cultures.

As a prologue, ruler Oda Nobunaga, worried by the threat of independent Iga ninjas, orders the killing of everyone in Iga province. Ten years later, our hero leaves a life in hiding accept the difficult job of killing the current ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi for a client who prefers to remain anonymous (presumably the lord Tokugawa Ieyasu). He has to deal with two ninja trained love interests and must fight off an Iga ninja who is trying to advance by becoming a retainer to a powerful lord and well as a band of Koga ninja's.

Ninja picture fans will be unhappy because most of the fighting and killing is offscreen. The plot can be hard to follow in places. The history is bogus and there seems to be too much of it. Less philosophy would have been better too.

Wonderful costumes, especially the mixture of Japanese and Western dress worn by the entertainers and the rich of the time. Some nice sets, such as the entertainment district on the Kyoto riverbank.

I was always interested by Owl's Castle, but never mustered up quite enough enthusiasm to watch it. I've liked but not loved much of Masahiro Shinoda's work, and I guess the fact this came late in his career and was labelled as an action movie always made it sound interesting. But then on the other hand, it seemed like most claimed it was decent at best, and with a runtime of nearly 2.5 hours, I guess it never really felt like it would be worth it.

I felt ready to eat my words for a while, at least during the first act, because Owl's Castle does begin in a promising way. I was on board and interested to see where it would go, but it ended up meandering and not really going anywhere. I wouldn't call much of it abysmal (besides some janky CGI which I don't think would've looked good in 1999 even); just a bit boring and by the numbers after a promising first few scenes.

I guess I come away a little disappointed, but also not too surprised. At least I've finally crossed it off the watchlist after years.

Underrated and often unappreciated, but a hidden gem of recent Japanese cinema, starring the inimitable Kiichi Nakai - with a grasp for comedy and hamming up some moments; acting sublimely at others.

Patience and a better understanding of the period concerned (about to crossover from Nobunaga Oda into the Tokugawa/Edo period in the late 16th Century, when Japan was on the cusp of civil war) also go far.

While some of the background effects are not particularly convincing (the early attack on Iga, for instance, and the decapitated head that spits across the screen), most of the sets are appropriate backdrops for some often inspired dialogue and innuendos.

Musically, too, the movie rings true, opting for traditional instrumentation rather than the J-Pop sounds that have hallmarked a lot of other Japanese period pieces.

Andrez Bergen