Ichi — dvd movie review
I’m a fan of Zatoichi. I’m not a hardcore fan — I’ve seen a handful of the films, and nothing of the television series — but a fan nonetheless. So, when I heard about this reboot/re-imagining/continuation of the Zatoichi series, I figured it might be worth a look. And once I saw the promotional stills, I actually found myself looking forward to viewing it.
Let’s just say, I’ve learned my lesson.
Like Batgirl to Batman, Ichi sees the first effort toward making a female protagonist take up the mantle of the blind swordsman. The story itself is fairly similar to any number of Zatoichi pictures, seeing the female Ichi wandering the countryside in search of her former mentor, all the while finding work as a goze (a sort of blind shamisen player. Ichi’s equivalent of Zatoichi’s masseur), and protecting innocents from bandit menaces. All the series staples are here, from the gambling to the blind battles, but with a few tweaks have to keep things interesting. For example, while Ichi herself is, for the most part, little more than a palette swap of Zatoichi, her character is more melancholic, and far less mischievous than her male counterpart. Much of her disposition is explained by way of flashbacks to former hardships and injustice,which in turn is used to explore a not-so-subtle feminist subtext. There are also glimpses of Zatoichi here and there, with a pretty decent Shintaro Katsu look-a-like.
And that’s pretty much where the good stuff ends.
Pretty much all narrative content in Ichi is delivered with a heavy hand. There is a fair amount of comedy in Ichi, but jokes are of the campfire-safe variety, and repeated multiple times, so the mildly amusing initial joke becomes a cringe-worthy running “gag”. I’ve got no problem with a feminist take on Zatoichi, but the philosophy presented here is so ham handed that only the densest of viewers will miss it. Ichi is shown to be the one true competent element in the world of self-important men. All men are dogs, cowards, thieves and rapists, save for the ones who are young boys or have mother issues. And even that wouldn’t be that bad if Ichi herself were consistently strong… but she’s far from that. I guess it’s possible a truly fierce female might be something the filmmakers were a bit uncomfortable with. Instead, we’re left with a woman who’s only strong enough to support those that can can come to her rescue.
And then there’s the production itself. Despite the splashy promo shots, the whole project comes across as cheap – suspiciously “made for television”. At first glance, there seems to have been a decent amount of money spent, on the production; certain shots appear at first to be nice, costumes are passable, and the actors involved are all respectably identifiable, but upon closer examination the flaws become apparent. Shots appear nice only because of the attractive scenery. Costumes seem to be Halloween rentals and denim/bleach experiments. Actors…well, I’ll get to that in a sec.
Director Fumihiko Sori has previously demonstrated a knack for comedy (Ping Pong) and mecha action (Vexille), but he seems completely out of his element with chanbara action. Ichi’s altercations are a confusing jumble of too-close shots and clumsy edits. Time and again combatants fall without the audience being given the slightest clue someone might have been struck, and not because of the usual case of a blade being faster than the eye. Instead, near every sequence features completely inappropriate framing, or a camera looking the other way while important action is taking place. It’s as if the cinematographer was a child with ADD, and kept getting distracted when asked to focus on something for longer than a split-second. Even when attention is brought back to the correct vicinity, the framing still remains a good foot or two above the consequence of the action (see above). Granted, these are most likely the likely fault of the cinematographer and editor. Star Haruka Ayase seems to be swinging her sword with conviction, and the other stars seem to know their moves as well, but a director being a director, Fumihiko Sori shares most of the blame. Hands down, it’s the most atrocious work I’ve ever seen in a chanbara film.
And finally, the acting. Ichi’s cast boasts some familiar faces, including Shidou Nakamura (The Neighbor No. 13, Letters from Iwo Jima), Riki Takeuchi (Battle Royale II, Dead or Alive), and Takao Osawa (A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth, Midnight Eagle). Shidou does some uncharacteristic mugging while Riki stuns the audience with his weight gain. Osawa, playing Ichi’s cowardly male sidekick, actually does a pretty decent job. Pop singer Haruka Ayase seems to do a decent job as the titular Ichi, but the role requires her to do little more than be silent and stare off into space. She’s handsome enough, I guess, but there was nothing that would make me seek her out again.
Coming off of Takeshi Kitano’s amazing 27th entry in the series, Ichi simply falls flat on its face. It may find an audience with Zatoichi newbies, but for anyone else, I’d recommend skipping it.
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