ccwf
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 J-Movie: 座頭市 (Zatoichi)
class float-right  Official Sites: class ul class li Office Kitano class li MiramaxI finally got around to seeing this much talked-about movie, which is mostly an homage to the famous old Zatoichi series of movies (one of Japan's most popular) with some comedic bits and fun anachronisms (like the music you'll hear if you click on the official site link plus the choreography that goes along with that in the movie). It had been showing on premium cable but now is available on basic cable on Spike TV.
Zatoichi stars and is written and directed by the famous “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, who also wrote and directed Hana-bi and Dolls and has acted in the NHK taiga drama Musashi, Takeshi's Castle (Spike TV's MXC—Most Extreme Elimination Challenge), Battle Royale, Johnny Mnenomic, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, and many others.
Other stars include class ul class li Emoto, Akira—Hideyoshi from Komyo ga Tsuji, Waterboys, Shall We Dansu? class li Daike, Yūko—also in Hana-bi and Dolls and is the sister in the Ju-on series of movies class li Natsukawa, Yui—Tomomori's wife Akiko from Yo****sune class li Ashikawa, Makoto as a rhythmic carpenter—Tatsuya from the Ju-on series, Tanaka in Hana-biEnjoyable, although I wish it were subbed instead of dubbed on cable.
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10/10/2006, 5:08 am
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masahiko
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Registered: 04-2006
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Re: J-Movie: 座頭市 (Zatoichi)
Have seen the classic Zatoichi and the current Beat Takashi version. It's been a while since I saw it at a film festival and can't remember if the most current version has the scene where he is tap dancing wearing getta?
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10/13/2006, 4:55 pm
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Tangpriest
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…
Zatoichi purists were pretty upset with Takashi's version, but it's very cool. Don't want to give away any spoilers, but encourage people to watch this. If you are familiar with Beat Takashi's work, you'll recognize a couple of regulars he works with. I loved this film.
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대 한 민 국!
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10/14/2006, 6:33 am
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bubu13
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Registered: 07-2006
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Re: J-Movie: 座頭市 (Zatoichi)
class blockquote vannessave wrote:
Bubu, Look forward to hearing your review when you get a chance to see it. Also enjoying your "years ago" stories and links.I haven't watched a Zatoichi movie in at least twenty years, but from the very first scene, I knew this was going to be quite different from any of the original 'Zat movies. It took a while to get used to seeing Ichi as an old white haired blind man with a bright red cane/sword, also he doesn't talk all that much, but he's still the greatest swordsman ever. I got to say, I really enjoyed this Beat Takeshi version.
The CGI effects were great, (that is, if you like to see a lot of blood and flying limbs) The sword fight scenes were excellent.
I like Takeshi's decision to go with modern Japanese, that made it easier to understand the dialogue. 
There was a lot of very funny, almost slapstick scenes, most of them involved Shinkichi. I laughed so hard when he was trying to train those three guys to fight, or when he put on the make-up... holy smokes, that is going to give me nightmares. 
I don't want to give it away, but the ending was one surprise after another. And the festival dance number was so cool, something I would have never imagined.
I usually don't enjoy re-makes of classic films, but I loved this one, and I would recommend this movie to any Zatoichi fans.
Here's some great background info on the film, but does contain some spoilers!
Takeshi Kitano on the making of Zatoichi
 Just finished re-watching, it's even better the second time around.
I missed a couple of details the first time. During the final battle between Zatoichi and Hattori, notice that they both switch their grip just before they attack, Hattori switches to a backhand grip as Zatoichi goes conventional. (In the original Zatoichi films, he has always been known for his backhand grip) I guess I missed it because the fight scenes don't last very long, it's just ZING!... and it's over.
In the closing dance number, watch Osei and Okinu morph from adult to children, then back to adults. And speaking of that final dance number, despite not having anything to do with the time period of the movie, the mix of modern beats and tap dance all seemed to work for me... crazy man, I enjoyed it. 
• Zatoichi - Midnight Eye Review - 10.06.2003 by Jasper Sharp
Last edited by bubu13, 3/17/2007, 3:07 pm
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3/14/2007, 6:27 pm
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