The Blind Menace (Shiranui Kengyo) — dvd movie review

In Asian cinema there seem to be two types of films with blind protagonists: those depicting warriors of unmatched skill and those depicting horrible monsters of the most terrible caliber. While directly responsible for the creation and future success of the Zatoichi films, The Blind Menace shares far more in common with fare such as Moju: The Blind Beast, with its titular amoral antagonist wreaking havoc in pursuit of his own self interest.

The Blind Menace (Shiranui Kengyo) follows the “career” of the blind antagonist Suganoichi (Shintaro Katsu), as he rises in the ranks of the Todoza, a Muromachi-to-Meiji-era formal organization for the blind, using any means – and I mean any means, he can muster. The picture starts out innocently enough, with a child Suganoichi conning wealthy officials out of their money, but soon turns dark, as the adult Suganoichi, (now a masseur with the lower-than-low rank of “Zato”) discovers the fast track of robbery, rape, and murder. With a newfound fortune and manufactured respect, Suganoichi then shoots up the ranks. Gunning for the ultimate rank of shoku-kengyo, Suganoichi sets about crushing anyone that stands in his way.

Fans of Zatoichi will probably be taken aback at first, and Katsu’s Suganoichi is far from heroic (maybe not a problem if they’ve seen Hanzo the Razor), and does little in the way of fighting (at least not with men). Rather, Suganoichi is completely despicable. To witness his deeds is to come away feeling filthy. I won’t give anything away, but by the end of the film, any sensible audience member will be calling for Suganoichi’s head. And therein lies Katsu’s skill.

You see, after multiple failed attempts at fame in roles of handsome leading males, the rather bulby Katsu turned to more adventurous fare. It is because of his success in The Blind Menace that Katsu was given the green light to create the Zatoichi character. As Suganoichi, Katsu comes alive with wild tics and weirder idiosyncracies. In fact, he reminded me a lot of the modern comedian, and dreamlogic fave, YosiYosi Arakawa. As despicably evil as he is, he’s completely fascinating to watch. Even while playing the shamisen.

Director Kazuo Mori is no stranger to genre fare, being a veteran of chanbara and ninja flicks, including both the Zatoichi and Shinobi no Mono series, and as such, The Blind Menace comes across with a darkly delicious authenticity. A product of the 60′s, the film is rich with high contrast compositions, elegant angles, and even a decently trippy dream sequence. The film’s dialog is also disarmingly witty, delivered with panache by competent actors, from Toru Abe (Runin: Banished, Girl Boss Guerilla) to Tamao Nakamura (Tsubaki Sanjuro, Human Condition III). It’s surprisingly high quality stuff.

In the end The Blind Menace may not be entirely enjoyable, but it certainly is noteworthy. Zatoichi and Katsu enthusiasts will definitely delight in the different take on a Katsu-brand blind character, but others might want to wait until they’ve seen a few Zatoichi outings, or maybe even The Blind Beast before dealing with this Menace. Still, The Blind Menace comes recommended.

The DVD

I’d been taking a bit of a hiatus from Japanese period films, but it feels quite good to be back. All the things I love about Animeigo dvds are present and accounted for. Their superior fansub-style subtitles, complete with historical and cultural facts, the quality picture and sound (how come they’re able to make a film look this crisp and keep the price reasonable?), and the bevy of supplemental historical, cultural, and production notes, cast bios, and photo galleries. It’s great great stuff. The only thing I found missing was their usually standard trailer gallery. What happened there? The dvd does include the original trailer for The Blind Menace, but nothing on other Animeigo releases. Still, it’s good stuff.

All in all, an interesting title, and a more than worthwhile pickup for fans of Zatoichi.

Trailer

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since well before he can remember. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.