After enjoying the first Zatoichi movies, I found myself wondering: "Are all the 26 films as good as the early ones?"
And for the first dozen films, and even after, the answer was "yes". There were changes, there were experiments, but the films were good.
"Fire Festival", however, is the demonstration of how after twenty films, things can go horribly wrong.
Basically, Zatoichi turned into a parody of himself. The bathhouse fight, followed by jolly music, feels like a scene from a low-budget comedy.
Tatsuya Nakadai, while moving and fighting gracefully, carries the "What are you watching, and what am I doing here?" facial expression during the whole film.
The thugs suddenly attacking Zatoichi and being slaughtered at the courtesan's grave feels like Toshiro Mifune's shrug in "Yojimbo" - it's a gesture that's part of the character's charm but has no plot relevance.
Everyone's favourite comic scene with the roadhouse couple kicking each other's butts (literally) feels unnatural. I kept hoping those two were actually assassins who would suddenly abandon their antics and try to kill Zatoichi. They weren't, they didn't.
How do I put it... Shintaro Katsu, producer and co-author of the script, is a great film actor.
"Fire Festival", however, is the demonstration of how after twenty films, things can go horribly wrong.
Basically, Zatoichi turned into a parody of himself. The bathhouse fight, followed by jolly music, feels like a scene from a low-budget comedy.
Tatsuya Nakadai, while moving and fighting gracefully, carries the "What are you watching, and what am I doing here?" facial expression during the whole film.
The thugs suddenly attacking Zatoichi and being slaughtered at the courtesan's grave feels like Toshiro Mifune's shrug in "Yojimbo" - it's a gesture that's part of the character's charm but has no plot relevance.
Everyone's favourite comic scene with the roadhouse couple kicking each other's butts (literally) feels unnatural. I kept hoping those two were actually assassins who would suddenly abandon their antics and try to kill Zatoichi. They weren't, they didn't.
How do I put it... Shintaro Katsu, producer and co-author of the script, is a great film actor.