Kagemusha

 Kagemusha, 1980

Japanese, historical drama

2h/42m

4 Stars

 

Kagemusha means Shadow Warrior, one who is a double. This movie, directed by Akira Kurosawa, takes place during the war before Tokugawa Ieyasu became Shogun. It follows a petty thief who looks like a twin of the samurai warlord and is hired to be his double. When the warlord dies, the thief is forced to fight in his place. Kurosawa was the master. Master writer, master director, for my book one of the best of all time. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite do it for me. I don’t know if it was the lack of Toshiro Mifune, the odd special effects, or just me. The story seemed longer than necessary, maybe because I was pretty sure how it would end? There is a huge battle at the end, we hear it, but don’t see anything until the battle is over. 

 

The Sound of Magic

 Korean 6-part series

65minutes/episode

5 Stars

 

Ah-Yi, a poor high-school student struggling to support herself and her younger sister with no help from their parents who have abandoned them; Il-deung is a well-off student who sits next to her, bribes her to let him get the higher scores; Ri Eul, a young man who wants the world to believe in magic, lives alone in a somewhat eerie abandoned amusement park. Ah-Yi, wants to go to college and find her parents, Il-deung wants to become his own person instead of who his parents want, and Ri Euel wants to remain a child who believes he is a great magician and teaches Ah-Yi. This is a great binge series, take a rainy afternoon, a pot of hot tea, and binge. There is conflict, humor, music, pathos—in other words, a great show. Do you believe in Magic?

Love and Honor (Third of the Samurai Trilogy), 2006

 Love and Honor (Third of the Samurai Trilogy), 2006

Japanese, historical drama

1hour 58minutes

5 Stars

 

Shinnojo is another low-level samurai, who dreams of quitting and opening a dojo. He is a food taster for his lord, and ingests some bad fish sashimi, and goes blind. His lord keeps him on full salary, but his beautiful and loyal wife does not know this, and seeks the help of a high ranking samurai, who lies to her, and to help her husband, he forces her to submit to his lust. Shinnojo finds out she has an affair and banishes her. Then finds out he was wrong and she was raped. The duel follows. It has to be the best scene with a blind swordsman ever! He does not kill the man but removes his arm. Duels are illegal, the samurai says he doesn’t know the assailant. The wife is welcomed home.

 

 

personal note: I spent several years looking for this movie. I knew it was out there, but couldn’t find it. I found it the other day for sale for the low price of $95.00. I kept searching and found it streaming for free at LookMovie: 

https://playerwatchlm85.xyz/threat-protection/second?t=6edf7188c7b77df2f70babd2196eb5d131fcb541

And this morning I found a used copy at a much more reasonable price, when it arrives I will have all three. 

The Hidden Blade (Second of Samurai Trilogy), 2004

 The Hidden Blade (Second of Samurai Trilogy), 2004

Japanese, historical drama

2hours 12minutes

5 Stars

 

This second of the three movies written and directed by Yoji Yamada and takes place in the 1860s shortly before the Meiji Restoration. Again, we have a sensitive, caring, and low-ranking samurai, Katagiri. There are some sub plots within the movie from love to betrayal, and the avengement of that betrayal. Kie is a young woman who came to the Katagiri household as a young girl where she learned to read and write, as well as becoming a proper lady though she was from a lower caste and married a merchant. Katagiri loves her but cannot marry out of his caste. There is the obligatory sword fight and then Katagiri discovers the deceit of the head of the castle, seeks revenge, then resigns his samurai status. As a farmer, he goes to Kie.

The Twilight Samurai (First of Samurai Trilogy), 2002

 The Twilight Samurai (First of Samurai Trilogy), 2002

Japanese, historical drama, good subtitles

2hours 9minutes

5 Stars

 

This is the first movie in a trilogy directed by Yoji Yamada, it takes place three short years before the Meiji Restoration. Our hero is a low-ranking samurai, a widower, with two young girls. When the days duties are over, he returns home to care for his two daughters and elderly mother with dementia instead of going drinking with his mates. Iguchi is compassionate, and loving, and is so low ranking he does not wish to remarry. The duel in one scene is marvelous—stick against sword. Later, there is the finality of a clan-ordered fight to the death in a dark house. Iguchi does not want to kill but has no choice. The sword fights are beautifully choreographed and executed. I’ve seen this movie at least three times and love it. Heartily recommend.

Lars and the Real Girl

 Lars and the Real Girl (Ryan Gosling), 2007

American, romcom

1 hour 46 minutes

5 Stars

 

Lars is an extremely shy young man, and has no idea how to socialize, especially with a woman. So he buys himself a life-sized doll and announces to one and all her name is Bianca and she’s his girlfriend. The whole town goes along with it, because they think the world of Lars. Bianca is even voted to the School Board. The first time I saw it was about 3 weeks ago at a friends. I enjoyed it so much, I bought my own copy, and have since watched it a second time with other friends. Don’t overthink this movie, it’s fiction, just have fun and laugh. I know, it’s really not new for me to enjoy a movie with no sword fights, and no medieval costuming, but it doesn’t happen often.

Ashes of Time Redux

Way back when, I saw Ashes of Time Redux via Netflix. As I recall, I didn't really understand it, but loved the special effects. While shopping one day, I stopped at a bin of bargain movies, and there it was, thought I'd get it, and watch it again. Last night, was the night!

I'm not sure I understood it any better this time. In fact, I don't think it's the movie I remember. However I did a little research and now it makes a bit more sense. I was trying to make the movie a whole and it's really chapters. I kept waiting for the character introduced in the beginning to reappear. In short, I was bringing my Eurocentric education to an Asiacentric story. 

Will probably watch it again; however, at this point I will only give it 4 stars. It's Chinese (Hong Kong), directed by Wong Kar-Wai. It's a great action movie, lots of swords and fake blood. 

Official Trailer is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyD_L5ubmL4 

Original review:

Ashes of Time Redux (Dung che sai duk), 2008

Chinese, English subtitles

94 minutes, directed by Wong Kar Wai

5 stars

 

The story started off a bit disjointed for me, but once I saw it as a puzzle, where one puts the straight edged border pieces together first, then fills in the center, by the time the end came, it all came together, beautifully. While placing the puzzle pieces, I enjoyed the scenes, the costumes, and the music. This is the story of a swordsman who retreats to the desert to recover from a broken heart. He hardens his heart to survive, and becomes a hired killer. He, of course, must learn his lessons, and in doing so, we are treated to wonderful sword fights, vignettes of his memory, and absolutely stunning scenery. Disclosure: I put my disc in the Netflix envelope, mailed it, and ordered my own copy!