Review of Sword of the Beast (1965) by Jonathan B — 06 Feb 2011

I think. I loved this one. It started out in the middle of a sexual rendezvous in a field, and I thought I was watching another Onibaba.

But although this film does have it's share of rapes, sexual assaults, and all around lusty sexual moments....(not too many, but more than perhaps the average film today), it's focus is on pure animal violence or the perception of such compared to the "honorable" samurai murders and violence that their code permits or simply chooses to turn a blind eye to, is a diatribe I can support.

Though, that last paragraph ,in itself, is a mouthful and a paragraphful. I do like the focus of the film, it's deeply rooted and feels worth exploring. It exposes the ideal samurai that we all imagine when we think of the word or culture in a different light.

On the film itself, it seems to start in the middle of something and never fully fleshes out the main characters history or back story, but it does complete him enough through the main story for us to identify with him and his quest. The fight scenes are pretty great, Yuuki takes on 20 + men at a time, and he does so with a sense of realism and survival. The cinematography was pretty good, not spectacular but not bad and was exceptional in some action sequences.

What I also liked was the palpable feeling of impending death. I know that sounds morbid but it kept me interested. The husband/wife relationship between Yamane and was some good drama as well.

I would assert that the deep story and a handful of great action scenes put this one at the higher end of the spectrum of samurai film.