Zatoichi: The Renaissance

This is the last of a five part review of all the movies contained in the Zatoichi Box Set from Criterion. You can read part four here: Zatoichi: Guest Stars and Black Holes.

23-25 The Renaissance

If there is a theme that ties these last three films together, it is Ichi's observation in Zatoichi At Large: "I never thought doing a good deed for someone would end up making me a demon." In each film Ichi's impulse for selflessness isn't greeted with gratitude but various degrees of suspicion, exploitation, or refusal. While his deeply ingrained sense of justice (or at least his need to expiate his sense of guilt) motivates him to see things through to the end, there are fewer beneficiaries who seem worthy of his efforts--hitting uncomfortably close to home in real life. The end result is a trio of movies that end what seemed like a flagging series on a remarkably high note.

23. Zatoichi at Large ****

Just when it seemed like the Zatoichi series was completely exhausted, along came Zatoichi at Large. What makes it so special? In the end, it is all about development—regarding both plot and character. An apparently familiar story is invigorated thanks to a series of welcome tweaks. Zatoichi stumbles upon the scene of a murder a few minutes too late to prevent the death of a pregnant woman. If the viewer can ignore some awkward comedy when he delivers the baby and accept that he must once again find a home for an orphaned child, the rest of the movie will reward one’s forbearance. To wit, Zatoichi is harassed by the baby’s older brother; the murdered mother’s husband is not a no-good yakuza who set her up; Zatoichi does not attract the affection of the young woman who proves to be the baby’s aunt; and the bad ronin is a good natured samurai who just wants to test his swordsmanship in mortal combat with his equal (yes, he was paid 50 ryo, but it hardly seems to motivate him).

Zatoichi is more vulnerable than usual, both emotionally and physically. After a highly credible scene in which he avoids defending himself so as not to kill in front of a child, he gets severely roughed up, eliciting real sympathy from the viewer. Rentaro Mikuni is effective as a psychopathic yakuza boss who is by turns a coward and a bully, slowly eliciting our distaste to the point where Zatoichi's final encounter with him feels more like a necessary deliverance of justice rather than a formulaic inevitability. With a final scene that serves as a derisive sneer to the Ichi vs. a Ronin trope, it’s hard not to feel that the movie was meant to sum up the best the series had to offer while dismissing the aspects that had run their course. How they pulled this off after 23 movies is beyond me, but I’m grateful for the effort.

24: Zatoichi in Desperation *****

I didn’t think it was possible to make a Zatoichi that could blow me away this late in the game, but Zatoichi in Desperation is the 2006 Casino Royale of cinema before there was a 2006 Casino Royale. Almost everything clicks in this movie from the interesting camera work to the expressionist touches and the funky 70s soundtrack. At its heart is proof that a great action movie needs an infamous level of villainy to really raise one’s hackles for the bloodletting at the end. This entry's yakuza gang is a cruel bunch that ruin the lives of countless innocent (and not so innocent) victims and Zatoichi isn’t always conveniently around to save the day. In fact, the tension is even heightened insofar as Ichi is largely unaware of some of their worst crimes to which the audience is privy. Zatoichi has his own problems with the gang, including suffering a debilitating injury at their hands (pardon the pun) which he must overcome in an inventive manner. This is a dark movie, but it’s the darkness that makes it work.

It is also worth noting that this was Shintaro Katsu's only turn as a director for the original movie franchise (he was at the helm for many of the television episodes and 1989's final entry). While one might fear a powerful actor overstepping his bounds and ruining a film, Katsu's experiments with focus, close ups, and jittery shots smashes the visual conventions established in the previous films while serving the needs of the story. The constant shifting of focus between foreground and background plays with the senses, underscoring the moral ambiguity of the characters. The obstructed scene compositions also remind us of Zatoichi's blindness in a more visceral manner. The frequent closeups create a claustrophobic feeling that underscores the menacing atmosphere of the film. All told, his work stands as a rare example of an actor/producer taking the director's chair not for vanity, but to use his power to break conventions no one else could.

25. Zatoichi’s Conspiracy ***

After the darkness of Zatoichi in Desperation came the relative light of Zatoichi’s Conspiracy. It’s almost as though Katsu wanted to wrap the series by doing a well made version of a classic mid-60s Zatoichi. The riskier experimentation that characterizes the other 70s films is largely absent, but by no means is this a tired retread of the earlier formula. A group of amoral ragamuffins meets Zatoichi on the road, by turns harassing and befriending him. We also learn something of Zatoichi’s back story as he confronts a childhood friend who has let greed blind him to the value of taking care of people in your hometown. Although the film is less adventurous, it makes for a fitting denouement to a series that had a heart and tried to deliver the action without going into absurd gross out forays like the more cynical Lone Wolf and Cub series that was taking off as Zatoichi was winding down.

The Final Tally

If you were counting.

***** 3 movies were given the Classic rating.

**** 6 movies were given the Excellent rating.

*** 9 movies were given the Good rating.

** 6 movies were given the Fair rating.

* 1 movie was given the Poor rating. Perhaps I was too hard on Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, but as the worst of the lot it deserves to take the fall.

All told that’s 18 of 25 movies that met a quality threshold of 3 stars or higher. Chanbara is not to everyone’s taste, but if you start with one of the 4 star movies I recommended and like it, you just might be a candidate for this box set. Let me know how it works out for you.

Can't get enough Zatoichi? See how the directors fared overall: 2014 The Year of Zatoichi