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Another Kurosawa Masterpiece

Advantages: Top quality film.
Disadvantages: Not a lot of DVD extras.

My collection of Kurosawa DVD's just keeps growing because he seems to have delivered every time. This is yet another film by the Japanese film-making genius that offers something different. Whereas 'Yojimbo' was a harder edged action film this sequel takes a far more light hearted approach, with genuine laughs along the way that aren't lost in the subtitles. Toshiro Mifune again stars for Kurosawa and as usual delivers in a way that only he can; ...

Osaitfc 01.03.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Sanjuro (Subtitled) (Wide Screen) (DVD)

The quickist sword in the west.

Advantages: brilliant film
Disadvantages: maybe difficult to get hold a copy.

...similar these films are, watch Yojimbo first and then A Fist Full of Dollars, without Yojimbo there would have been no Fist Full of Dollars. It would be unfair to say which film is best, as in my eyes they are both great films. The image Yojimbo gives of Japan at sometime during the 19 Century is that of a declining and corrupt Japan, which much of the country under the control of gangsters and corrupt officials. The film also portrays a national ...
...with the samurai, who normally having a high moral code being honoured and feared at the same time. The films also shows how these traditions are beginning to be opened up to western influences, this can be seen in the role Unosuke, played by Tatsuya Nakadai. He plays the son of one of the gangster who returns to the town in tradition clothes, but bearing an American gun which he uses instead of tradition weapons, thus making him a powerful force ...

oldgoth 27.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Yojimbo (DVD)

Successfully modernising a legend

Advantages: stunning visual attention to detail, creative editing
Disadvantages: erratic variation in style and genre may not be to everyone's taste

...Set in 19th century Japan, Zatoichi [Takeshi Kitano] is a blind masseur who arrives in a remote mountain town. Here he discovers the Ginzo gang are terrorizing the locals with extortionate protection fees, aided by a skilled samurai ronin, Hattori [Tadanobu Asano]. After befriending unlucky gambler Shinkichi [Guadalcanal Taka], he meets two geisha who have sworn to avenge the deaths of the parents. With an inevitable confrontation, Zatoichi must ...
...like his earlier Yakuza efforts. Zatoichi himself is a brilliantly cool and unhurried hero who appears always in total control, played in traditional Kitano Hana-bi style, a subdued personality that suddenly emerges confrontations. The violence occurs in his traditionally short and sudden bursts, often gory but not purely gratuitous, and he also includes a few trademark scenes where the violence occurs outside of the frame. Finally, he weaves in ...

PriyanPhoenix 27.06.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Zatoichi (DVD)

Much more than a Japanese Dirty Harry

Advantages: Kitano's 1st. A great piece of genre cinema.
Disadvantages: None.

...I can think of. VIOLENT COP was his very first film. This release was a bit of a shock for Japan. Previous to Violent Cop, Kitano had been a huge stand-up comedy star. It looked as if he had given up comedy altogether with this film: a dark and hyper-violent tale of a lone cop against a bunch of merciless yakuzas. He would however return to comedy in between films, as well as various other talk-shows and popular Japanese TV. Comical and slapstickish ...
...as well as directing them. Violent Cop is no exception; the director plays the part of Azuma, a solitary and slighly crazed police inspector. He roams about the police headquarters, miserable and unmoved, very much as he does through the labyrinth of Tokyo's skyscrapers. When a tramp is beaten-up by a gang of vicious youths, he calmy waits in the shadows without intervening. He then trails one of the teenagers back to his mother's house and proceeds ...

gantzgraf 31.03.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Violent Cop (Subtitled) (Wide Screen) (DVD)

True Masterpiece

Advantages: Possibly best ever Kitano movie
Disadvantages: None whatsoever

Films previous to this made by Kitano included Violent Cop, Sonatine, and Boiling Point, and if you've seen those 3, you'll notice the difference here. This film was made after his motorcycle accident which left him with a facial twitch which is evident, but one can see the change in style brought about as a result of it. Takeshi's character, Nishi, is a cop whose wife is terminally ill, and whose daughter died earlier. As he tries to deal with his ...
...partner gets shot and as a result is crippled. Nishi blames himself for this, as he was visiting his wife in hospital at the time that his partner got shot. The full story unfolds in short flashback sequences, and Nishi feels snowballing guilt. To add to his problems, he owes the Yakuza a lot in debt, and has to go about repaying it. The story is mainly about how Nishi decides to spend time with his wife who hasn't got long left to live, as he contemplates ...

sghosh 04.07.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Hana-Bi (DVD)