Production Companies Asahi National Broadcasting Company, Bandai Visual Co. Ltd., DENTSU Music And Entertainment Inc., Office Kitano, Saitô Entertainment, Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co. Ltd.
Other Titles • Zatoichi • Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi • The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Synopses for Zatoichi (2003)
1.
Zatoichi falls in with a group of bandits in a small village. From their hiding place, the criminals control the town's activities through a corrupt police official, who runs the sweatshop where young women are forced to work in brutal slavery. Zatoichi steps in to deal with the gang in this exciting nonstop action film, which features dazzling swordplay, superb performances, and a thrilling climax.
(96 votes)
2.
Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, the Japanese actor-director best known in the US for his quirky, ulraviolent gangster movies (Fireworks, Brother, Sonatine) and in the UK (among satellite and cable viewers, at least) for the bizarre It's a Knockout-meets-Endurance gameshow Takeshi's Castle, applies his off-kilter sensibility to the samurai genre in The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi. A blind masseur (Kitano with his hair dyed white) wanders into a small town divided up by rival gangs. Though hunched and shuffling, Zatoichi soon reveals his deadly skills as a swordsman. He befriends a pair of geisha girls with secrets of their own and helps them hunt down the bandits who killed their parents. But one of the gangs has just hired a ronin, a masterless samurai, whose fighting skill may equal the blind swordsman's.
Zatoichi mixes a melodramatic storyline, deadpan comedy, and dazzling, CGI-enhanced swordfights into a supremely entertaining package. In Japan, Zatoichi is a recurring character in popular action movies, but Kitano places his own unique stamp on the series. --Bret Fetzer
(95 votes)
3.
With ZATOICHI, Takeshi Kitano, best known for such gangster films as VIOLENT COP, BOILING POINT, and BROTHER, makes his first period drama, an updating of the classic Japanese character portrayed by Shintaro Katsu in movies and television from 1962 to 1989. Zatoichi is a blind samurai who shuffles from town to town, righting wrongs with his remarkable sword hidden within his cane. He is also a masseuse who likes to gamble. Kitano serves as director, writer, co-editor, and star of the film, playing the protagonist under his acting name, Beat Takeshi. This version of Zatoichi, based on the stories of Kan Shimozawa, is more violent than the earlier series, as Kitano strives to make it more realistic. He has also infused a clever sense of humor, while cinematographer Katsumi Yanagishima adds beautiful depth of field to many scenes. When Zatoichi arrives in a small town, he unknowingly walks into a classic tale of revenge, as two women plot to kill the men who murdered their family. As Zatoichi becomes more involved, an eventual showdown with young samurai Hattori (Tadanobu Asano, who excelled in Takashi Miike's very violent ICHI THE KILLER) is inevitable. ZATOICHI is thrilling filmmaking at its best, an endlessly entertaining samurai epic from a man who fully understands the genre and is not afraid to take it to the next level.
SONATINE tells the story of gang boss Murakawa (Takeshi Kitano), who decides to consolidate his power as he approaches middle age. When his boss responds by assigning him to a peacekeeping mission in a town where a couple of the gang's provincial chapters are coming to blows, Murakawa is naturally suspicious. Is he being kicked upstairs--or kicked out? When he and his crew become the targets of a bloody ambush, the conclusion seems inescapable. A brutal indictment of the soul-crushing yakuza lifestyle.
(91 votes)
4.
A dying woman begs Zatoichi to reunite her son with his father, who is working in a small town. But when the son and father meet, Zatoichi finds out that the father has been forced to work for gangsters. Using his lightning sword, our hero takes on the crime boss in a nonstop blend of action, violence, and comedy that makes Zatoichi Challenged one of the best in the long-running series.
(93 votes)
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