driffma

A friend of mine scored this film. It was hometown so as a reviewer its hard to be hard on it. But it really wasn't all that great. Part of it I am sure lies in the fact that none of these people had ever made a movie before. It really shows. There are a lot of deep close ups and a bit too much blinking by Beth. Blinking in extreme close up is a no-no as it distracts the viewer.

There is a lot to admire. It took stylistic chances, opting for little or no dialogue. Sometimes this emotive storytelling backfires as the facial expressions used by the actors seem to come out of melodrama they are so over the top. It observes the short story form and never tries to tell us too much, certainly welcome.

Bad or good, or just mediocre the film was a good effort by a small town troop of artists. It tried very hard to please.

As samurai epics go this one certainly plums all the typical Japanese stereotypes. There is the obsession with honor, there are still samurai running about in Japan, they just wear business suits now instead of hakama and kimonos. Oh and corporate take overs are more reminiscent of a battle between feudal lords than the modern corporate buy out. Hostile takeover indeed.

This isn't really a great movie. It may be good. I was in the right mental state to enjoy it I think. What makes this movie a really interesting study to watch is Scott Glenn, and Toshiro Mifune. They are the core that holds this movie together. Glenn is excellent as a down on his luck boxer, and Mifune is equally good playing an anachronistic samurai warrior. This movie would have crumbled under the weight of its pretensions had these two fine actors not been involved. They made even the absurd bits in this film believable.

If you watch the credits you will see that Steven Seagal was one of the martial arts consultants for the movie. And I must say his touch is welcome here. Everyone looks very proficient. It is lamentable that Seagal would later go on to boast that he knew 10 times more about Japanese sword fighting than Mifune, but whatever, the films action holds up well.