Review of Zatoichi (2003) by Kai82 — 03 Jan 2020

Takeshi Kitano at his best. Zatoichi is a rivival of a famous Japanese movie series based of the books of Kan Shimozawa. Outside of Japan it is nearly unknown (or at least in my country). Back then I did barely know that a series exists and had to look the rest up.

Zatoichi is a blind masseur with unmatched sword skills and sharpened senses that gives him more perception than many others. He is a wanderer that travels trough the country and got drag into this adventure.

The movie uses and plays with many stereotypes but in an interesting and entertaining way. There are the Geisha's which travel trough the country to avenge the dead of their parents, there is the ronin (samurai without master) which is even a match for Zatoichi that struggles with his honor and his duty to help his (terminal?) ill wife and there are the townsfolk which gets ripped of by a crime syndicate (Yakuza).

This is like a said a strength of this movie. If done incorrect then this would be an awful movie. But it is done in such a way that you care for all characters and want to see the resolve of their stories.

Then there is Zatoichi himself. I haven't seen the old movies but Takeshi Kitano gave all in this role: Seriousness, humor, emotion, (self)irony and badassness. Then there are the side characters. All are carefully chosen.

I don't know how they did it but I will say that all of them are perfect additions to this movie. I will also praise the costumes, sets and story line. Everything fits together to create something that is bigger than its parts.

Overall I hope that this wont be the last Zatoichi movie. Additional Info: Takeshi Kitano made many great movies in his carer that you should definitely watch.