Zatoichi Review

Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano is best known for his tough yakuza movies and penetrating dramas. Who can forget the intense, out-of-nowhere violence of the surreal gangster drama "Sonatine," or the quiet hope of the adolescent boxing film "Kids Return"? But with his latest film, the actor/director tries to do something entirely different--make an entertaining film with a happy ending.

The resulting "Zatoichi," which Miramax opens on June 4 in New York and Los Angeles, has fun and games aplenty. Kitano's modern take on the famous '60s swordfighting series includes an inept assassin who just can't get the job done, a cross-dressing killer and--bizarrely--a mass tap-dancing finale. "This is the first time that I've set out to make a movie with a feel-good ending," Kitano said gruffly at Holland's Rotterdam International Film Festival. "I really worked hard to make it fun."

"Zatoichi" tells the story of a blind, avenging swordfighter. It's based on the popular 26-film series which featured actor Shintaro Katsu as a Robin Hood-style figure who trailed around Japan in the early 1800s. The original Zatoichi, who is now a mainstay of popular culture in Japan, was a rover who made his money as a masseur. He got into trouble, dispensed justice as he saw fit, and helped those in need of protection. Zatoichi concealed his sword in his cane, and was so fast on the draw he could beat even his social superiors, the samurai warriors.

Kitano keeps the character pretty much intact in his version. Stepping into Shintaro's shoes (the actor died in 1997), Kitano helps some youngsters avenge their family's murder while taking on some cruel gangsters who are terrorizing a small town. But he adds some typically quirky touches like that incongruous tap-dancing number. It's not sacrilege, he says. The director claims that he wasn't intending to subvert the original films or make fun of them. He simply wanted to jazz them up a little for the new century.

"You can't change a lot when you are making this kind of historical drama," Kitano explains. "You shouldn't really mess around with the characters and storylines. But there are some ways that you can have some fun--like by adding those dancing scenes. You don't normally have those in period pieces! I know that the story's not drastically different from the original. But many of the things I put around it are very new." Like the humor, for instance. There was a sly wit to some of the original films, but nothing as cheeky as in Kitano's version. "Shintaro Katsu would sometimes do a few funny things," the director notes, "but he never did slapstick. My version is a bit extreme, as far as the humor goes."

Zatoichi is a cultural icon in Japan, so Kitano was taking a chance when he decided to have his fun with him. Luckily, everyone liked the result at home--even those who revered the original series. "It was a huge hit in Japan," he says. "The cinemas were filled with all kinds of people, from young kids to the elderly. So I guess that even those who saw the films when they came out must have liked my version."

Kitano does, however, wonder how many Japanese people actually have seen the originals: "Everyone in Japan knows about Zatoichi, and everyone knows about the actor, Shintaro Katsu. But it seems that hardly anybody has bothered to watch the actual films. It's a bit like the idea of a geisha girl. Every Japanese knows what geisha is. But only a few have ever paid to have a drink with one."

The filmmaker left one thing untouched--Zatoichi's backhanded swordfighting style. Rather than swing the sword over his head, Zatoichi cuts upwards as he whips the weapon out of its scabbard. "This backhand style of swordfighting is common for those who use short swords," he explains. "Ninjas used that style. It's very good for fighting at close quarters, because you don't have to swing. If there's some distance between yourself and your opponent, you can use the forearm. But there's no time to unsheathe the sword and swing it at close range."

Kitano has, of course, seen "Kill Bill," which features some hammy send-ups of Japanese swordfighting films. He says he was surprised to find that he liked Quentin Tarantino's film: "I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. I knew that Tarantino would be taking the piss out of Japanese culture and messing with the concept of Japanese genre films before I saw it. But I didn't expect him to go as far as he did. It was so preposterous that I respected and admired him for it."

But he adds that it might not be a good idea to make such a film in Japan, where the samurai sword has a sacred position in local culture. "One Japanese photographer made a photo book which had naked girls posing with samurai swords," Kitano laughs. "He photographed some big-breasted women next to the swords. That photographer was threatened by groups on the far right. It's dangerous to mess with the Japanese sword in Japan. It's sacred."

Kitano's last crack at fame in the States, the U.S.-produced "Brother," paled in comparison to his Japanese films. But "Zatoichi" looks set to ride the wave of interest in swordfighting films and do good business. Kitano couldn't care less about becoming more famous, he says--he's quite content where he is. "I have no particular desire to become famous in America," he says. "I don't have the strength to deal with that kind of success. I wouldn't refuse it if it happened, but it's not something that I'm particularly concerned about. I don't want be any richer or be any more famous, so it's not something that I even think about."

Kitano adds that he's now planning to make one commercial movie like "Zatoichi" for every three art-house films. "As a filmmaker, I think it's unhealthy to try to achieve money and fame with your movies. That's not a good way to look at it. You should make films with the idea of creating something special."

By RICHARD JAMES HAVIS, Film Journal International