Zatoichi On The Road
Year: 1963
Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Writer: Minoru Inuzuka (based on a short story by Kan Shimozawa)
Starring: Shintaro Katsu, Shiho Fujimura, Ryuzo Shimada, Reiko Fujiwara, Matasaburo Niwa, Yoshio Yoshida, Sonosuke Sawamura, Shosaku Sugiyama, Yutaka Nakamura, Gen Kimura,
Zatoichi agrees to meet with a yakuza boss, but that is all. As always for Zatoichi, trouble soon finds him, as a rival gang believes Zatoichi intends to join their competitors in an upcoming battle. Despite being blind, Zatoichi’s legend precedes him, and it is decided to try and take out the blind swordsman with a penchant for gambling. However, Zatoichi isn’t the only one targeted by such thugs, and he also decides to protect a young woman hunted for spurning the advances of her lord.
The plot is most certainly rather complex, as Zatoichi finds he continuously attracts trouble from a number of antagonists. The fact that Zatoichi can never, and will never, escape his past mistakes becomes even more tragic here and the more he fights against his past, the bigger legend he becomes. Being a fifth entry, screenwriter Inuzuka puts a different twist on the character by showing him beginning to become frustrated with his situation. Heroine Omitsu (Fujimura) is unsure whether or not she can trust Zatoichi, and after she takes off he becomes very upset and almost angry.
Katsu handles such emotional jumps very well, and continues to perfect his performance that captures both a hard worn killer and a lovable and childish rogue. His reponse to eating a bitter persimmon after singing their praises is a quick glimpse of comedic gold. Yasuda may set his sights too high, as he brings in a number of rival gangs and a plot that changes focus more than once, but he also presents us with beautiful location shoots and a keen eye for detail in the glorious costumes. When not displaying a fantastic aesthetic, he’s also giving us development of even minor characters. One of the yakuza heavies questions whether to follow an order just because it’s an order, but he is then quickly dispatched by our hero in the next scene. This simple addition adds to the sadness of violence, as Zatoichi would have no idea that man he’s just killed had good characteristics.
Zatoichi On The Road weaves a simple story of our favourite blind swordsman into a rich and complicated world. The escalation leads us to a finale in which Zatoichi becomes the most important piece on the board as we flirt with an all out battle. All connections from the previous 4 instalments go unacknowledged, making this a fresh start. Unfortunately, there’s a little too much going on this time to maintain the attention, as the audience tries desperately to fit the pieces together.
Will I enjoy it?
This is probably most suited towards the converted. Having previous knowledge of the character, his gambling habits, and how trouble seems to find him, does add to the enjoyment. Although certainly not essential to enjoy the film, many of the reactions to Zatoichi are implicitly linked with his previous adventures. If you love a main character who you can easily connect to, and seeing him take down villains who have no idea what they’re getting themselves in to, then this could be a must see.
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