Country: JAP
Technical: col 131m
Director: Jun'ichi Yasuda
Cast: Makiya Yamaguchi, Norimasa Fuke, Yuno Sakura, Tsutomu Tamura
Synopsis:
Representatives of warring Imperial and Shogunate factions meet outside a temple to duel, but are transported forwards in time by a lightning discharge, and become actors in TV's popular samurai genre, Jidaigeki.
Review:
Playful, affectionate homage to a moribund TV format, in which actors specialise in being 'slashed' by the leading man and, if they can act, are promoted to speaking roles. The art of stunt performing with lightweight swords is presented almost as reverentially as the real thing, but the USP is that only the true technician recognises a real samurai when he sees one. This is all somewhat fudged, alas, since although the director, who sank his personal fortune into the movie, delivers immaculate images and consummate staging, the detail of multiple camera setups and blood squibs is missing. Equally, it is not the veteran stuntman/trainer who acknowledges Shinzaemon's near uniqueness, but the fight coordinator on the crew. One suspects that the values embodied by the samurai, which would normally offer the crew an edifying glimpse of what has passed, à la Visiteurs (1993), would hit home more clearly to a Japanese audience, as would the film's disarming shifts in tone; to an international audience Shinzaemon's stubbornness seems rather an unnecessary brake in the unfolding of a work that has already taken too long to get going.
Country: JAP
Technical: col 131m
Director: Jun'ichi Yasuda
Cast: Makiya Yamaguchi, Norimasa Fuke, Yuno Sakura, Tsutomu Tamura
Synopsis:
Representatives of warring Imperial and Shogunate factions meet outside a temple to duel, but are transported forwards in time by a lightning discharge, and become actors in TV's popular samurai genre, Jidaigeki.
Review:
Playful, affectionate homage to a moribund TV format, in which actors specialise in being 'slashed' by the leading man and, if they can act, are promoted to speaking roles. The art of stunt performing with lightweight swords is presented almost as reverentially as the real thing, but the USP is that only the true technician recognises a real samurai when he sees one. This is all somewhat fudged, alas, since although the director, who sank his personal fortune into the movie, delivers immaculate images and consummate staging, the detail of multiple camera setups and blood squibs is missing. Equally, it is not the veteran stuntman/trainer who acknowledges Shinzaemon's near uniqueness, but the fight coordinator on the crew. One suspects that the values embodied by the samurai, which would normally offer the crew an edifying glimpse of what has passed, à la Visiteurs (1993), would hit home more clearly to a Japanese audience, as would the film's disarming shifts in tone; to an international audience Shinzaemon's stubbornness seems rather an unnecessary brake in the unfolding of a work that has already taken too long to get going.
