This is the twelfth (of twenty-six) Zotaichi films featuring the titular blind masseur and swordmaster in feudal Japan. (Masseurs are typically blind so they cannot see the bodies they touch.) It falls in the category of Chambara (sword fighting) films and, from what I understand, this is a pretty good one.
Zotaichi (Shintaro Katsu) is an unlikely hero, he's a bumbling man, blind, a gambler, and a con man. The women love him (but he doesn't think he's good enough for them); those he's scammed don't. He has a kind heart.
In this film, he meets a ronin (a masterless samurai), Jumonji, played with elan by Mikii Nanto, who is a chess expert. Tensions develop between the two but soon they join forces to fend off angry yakuza and a bloodthirsty family as they fight to save a sick child. The young girl was collateral damage in a fight -- she had been stabbed in the foot, got tetanus, and needs medicine to survive. SPOILER: Zatoichi gets the medicine and the girl is okay by the end of the flick.
I am not an expert on ancient Japan or Japanese films but, according to one review, you can learn more about Japanese history and culture from this film than you can from a year's worth of anime.
Evidently, some fans compare Zataichi to Columbo, so that's gor to count for something.
Yes, it's subtitled.
Enjoy.
https://archive.org/details/12-zatoichi-and-the-chess-expert
The chess aspect interests me but I really don't care for martial arts.
ReplyDelete