The Trail of Blood [The Mikogami Trilogy] — dvd movie review
Wow, so that was an insanely busy week. Back to some film reviews. First up: The Mikogami Trilogy Box Set. As with all other Box Sets I’ve covered, I will review each film individually. A warning though: This review has been written in bits and pieces for the past week and a half. I apologize in advance for any inconsistencies.
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While I’ve reviewed a fair share of Samurai and ninja films, I haven’t touched upon Yakuza Chivalry films too much. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the genre, Chivalry films often focus on virtuous outcasts, Yakuza drifters who find themselves at odds with both their peers and the world around them. More often than not these characters have been ousted from their clans, as their exemplary moral standing and staunch personal integrity, have been forced to go against the code of their brothers. In fact, these men are paragons of virtue, lost in a sea of wretchedness — surrounded by everyday liars, cheaters, thieves, and backstabbers — but still they venture forward, unfazed, toward their bleakest of destinies.
The Trail of Blood (Mushukunin mikogami no jôkichi: Kiba wa hiki retsu ita) is the first film in the Mikogami trilogy, and introduces us to Jokichi (Yoshio Harada, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance), an infamous Yakuza soldier on the run from a mysterious past. When the film opens we find him in less than stellar condition, rain-soaked and with a nasty wound on his foot. Seeking food and shelter he enters a lonely restaurant and promptly collapses. Its proprietor, a young single woman, takes pity on poor Jokichi, sets about mending his wound and putting him up for the night. Enter a group of less than scrupulous yakuza who take her act of caring for plain old hussidom. Jokichi promptly comes to her aid, fighting off her attackers (without even fully drawing his sword), and absconding with her to the nearby woods. Shortly thereafter the two are married, with a son, and Jokichi has found honorable work as a wood carver. But their idyllic existence doesn’t last for long. The shamed Yakuza find Jokichi, mutilate him (in one of the craziest sequences of Yakuza digit acquisition), and kill his wife and son. Realizing the path of carnage is not one easily left, Jokichi dons his sword and sets off to find the people responsible. Thus starts a path of vengeance so epic it will span two additional films.
While packed to the brim with pulp genre elements (including more than its fair share of women in peril), The Trail of Blood is actually rather respectable chivalry film. Rather than relying on streaming blood-geysers or pinky-violence excess of the later 70’s, The Trail of Blood instead focuses on good, old-fashioned swordplay and high production values.
Now, the types of sword-fights found in these films may seem easy to choreograph, being that they involve more running and slashing than extensive, impressive parrying, but once you’ve witnessed one or two done well you can always pick out ill-prepared or ill experienced combatants. In The Trail of Blood, it would seem all poseurs had been kicked off set. These fights are dynamic, exciting, and unusual. Case in point: Jokichi’s modified fighting style. Having lost the two fingers on his left hand, he is unable to hold his sword in the traditional stance. To stay a deadly force, he fashions claws for his remaining fingers, and slings his sword upside down in his right hand (a fellow Boy Scout once told me this is the proper way to knife fight). When Jokichi lays into bad guys with his claws it’s genuinely startling — animal quick and completely unexpected. Similarly, his backwards slashing is equally fun to witness. Something must be said toward the editing, which is incredibly transparent, allowing the viewer to be completely engaged in every altercation.
Writer/Director Kazuo Ikehiro (Sleepy Eyes of Death: A Trail of Traps, Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold)’s treatment is simple but compelling. The film (a mere 87 minutes long) moves along at an incredibly swift pace, never once allowing for the viewer to get bored. Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Lone Wolf and Cub IV: Baby Cart in Peril, Hanzo the Razor: The Snare), does an equally good job capturing the action. I’ve mentioned my appreciation for his work previously, and his work here does not disappoint. And something must be said for Takeo Watanabe’s incredibly funky score, featuring near-waka-chaka brass, and enough groovy beats to rival Meiko Kaji’s “Ginchoo Wataridori”. I really dug it.
In closing, The Trail of Blood surprised me. I expected some decent sword fighting action, but what I got was far from par for the course. The Trail of Blood is one I will surely be recommending to friends. Check it out.
The DVD
AnimEigo’s presentation of The Trail of Blood faithfully maintains its original 2.35:1 Aspect ratio. The colors are a little light in places, but nothing to the degree that would detract from the goings on on-screen. Sound is quite decent too, as the rocking tunes and the shrieks and clangs of battle sounded crisp and new. As you know by now, AnimEigo’s DVD features literal subtitles (really, these are the closest things you’ll get to Fansubs on a legitimate DVD release, as AnimEigo invented Fansubbing) to accompany the Japanese language stereo track.
In the extras department, The Trail of Blood features the usual production notes (I always love these), a collection of trailers featuring one for this film and other AnimEigo releases (Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, Shogun Assassin, and Shadow Hunters) and a gallery of production stills from the film. Decent stuff.
All in all, this movie rocked my socks. Going on this one alone, I would say the Mikogami Trilogy is worth a purchase (you’ll save yourself some money in the long run). The DVD may be light on extras for some, but with a movie as entertaining as this, extras are really secondary. Again, check it out.
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