Ryuhei Kitamura's entry for the "Duel" project is a 70 minute samurai movie taking place in an old abandoned temple.
It's a slow opening build up. Two men, one a wounded samurai, the other a mysterious monk living in a forgotten temple spend their time in conversation, waiting for the storm outside to end . Their backgrounds and motives become apparent establishing "who" are these two men and setting up the scene of confrontation between them. Unlike most other movies this one lacks a clear antagonist, the two leads are described as men of honor each with his own different point of view. So when their duel begins it becomes even more effective as it is not just choreography and camera works that makes the battle good but also because both these men are likable. Kitamura's decision to keep the battle for the final part of the film proves to be a correct one, as tension builds up between the two leads with each and every revelation, setting their motivation for whats coming.
Considering that the whole movie took place in just one room, the fight scene was pretty impressive with Kitamura demonstrating some very nice camera-work, following the swordplay in an almost perfect rhythm. The choreography is also top notch once again proving that Kitamura is able to create memorable and stylish fight scenes without the necessarily needed high budget. Considering that the whole battle took place in just one room. The ending while a bit too similar to that of "Versus" fits the story's direction nicely with a ironic "the hunted becomes the hunter" type finale.
"Aragami" is not an over the top, high-paced, non-stop as "Versus" instead it relies more on character to set it's tone for the finale. And with just about the right length so that it doesn't begin to drag on too much, Ryuhei Kitamura's Aragami is a very enjoyable samurai film.
It's a slow opening build up. Two men, one a wounded samurai, the other a mysterious monk living in a forgotten temple spend their time in conversation, waiting for the storm outside to end . Their backgrounds and motives become apparent establishing "who" are these two men and setting up the scene of confrontation between them. Unlike most other movies this one lacks a clear antagonist, the two leads are described as men of honor each with his own different point of view. So when their duel begins it becomes even more effective as it is not just choreography and camera works that makes the battle good but also because both these men are likable. Kitamura's decision to keep the battle for the final part of the film proves to be a correct one, as tension builds up between the two leads with each and every revelation, setting their motivation for whats coming.
Considering that the whole movie took place in just one room, the fight scene was pretty impressive with Kitamura demonstrating some very nice camera-work, following the swordplay in an almost perfect rhythm. The choreography is also top notch once again proving that Kitamura is able to create memorable and stylish fight scenes without the necessarily needed high budget. Considering that the whole battle took place in just one room. The ending while a bit too similar to that of "Versus" fits the story's direction nicely with a ironic "the hunted becomes the hunter" type finale.
"Aragami" is not an over the top, high-paced, non-stop as "Versus" instead it relies more on character to set it's tone for the finale. And with just about the right length so that it doesn't begin to drag on too much, Ryuhei Kitamura's Aragami is a very enjoyable samurai film.