1 post tagged “samurai fiction”
Yes! It is now Samurai Week on Secret Garden!
the sacred island itself, I will theme the next week
on Japan's most famous nicety: the Samurai.
Today I'm going to review a movie I watched
recently, which deserves much noise made in its
honor. *fanfare* Samurai Fiction (1998)distributed by
Pony Canyon [which also takes charge of the recently
raved-about LM.C]. The film was the first full-length feature by director Nakano Hiroyuki, who was established as the director of music-videos for MTV Japan. This is apparent in particular scenes that are brief, but dreamlike and strange with no character movement or dialogue taking place, set under a dramatic music score.
Samurai Fiction begins when the aloof swordsman
Kazamatsuri, warden of the ancestral sword of the Iga Clan, steals the sword and leaves the Clan. The Clan
head's young son (in the lovely passion of youth! The
daring days of youth! The reckless-- ok, we get it) gets
the uppity idea to chase after Kazamatsuri and retrieve
the sword. The rest of the film follows both men in their
clashes and reprieves.
The other area in which we see homage to the director's
MTV-heritage is in the casting of musician Hotei Tomoyasu
in the villainous role of Kazamatsuri Rannosuke.
Hotei composed and performed the entire musical-score for the film,
and it was his acting debut. After Kagen No Tsuki, I've about had my
fill of 2-hour-long music video acting-debuts, but Samurai Fiction
soon revealed that I had nothing to worry about!
The musical-score was quite awesome. Mainly rock with some heavy
guitar-wailing courtesy of our villain, paired quite nicely with some
taiko (Japanese drums) tracks where appropriate, and a few licks
in honor of Clint Eastwood's cowboy flicks.
The film itself was an exceptionally awesome piece bowing
to famous Samurai productions such as the acclaimed Kurosawa's
masterpieces. The film, although shot in 1998, is done entirely
in classic black and white, except for some special situations.
Such as. There is no gore-- nope, not a spec of crimson blood
(and certainly no fountains exploding from graphically punctured
arteries). However, we are not entirely cheated! Whenever someone
is cut down by a masterful katana stroke, the screen flashes red,
and we shudder....punctured arteries exploding in our deep,
wounded conscious....
The film is also intended to be a comedy. And honestly...
it's the first Japanese comedy I have ever watched and
actually laughed really really hard at! It was truly hilarious!
Many aspects of SF and lots of the characters (especially
the frantic young protagonist) were almost parodies of
the same movies that inspired it. And it is as skillfully
done as the finest episodes of School Rumble! (yes...
I did just pull that comparison out of no where...
actually it has nothing in common with School Rumble
except for its wild abandon in hilarity and awesomeness).
If you have any pride as a samurai-movie-lover, you will acquire this masterpiece ASAP and do not just yourself, but all of us, a huge favor. Both parody and tip of the hat to the great Samurai films of the century, Samurai Fiction is the perfect blend of comedy and action, and is perfectly acceptable to watch with your mom.
