(released in the US as ''The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi'') is a 2003 Japanese ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

, directed, written, co-edited by and starring

Takeshi Kitano , also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During hi ...

("Beat" Takeshi) in his eleventh directorial venture. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman, with

Tadanobu Asano better known by his stage name is a Japanese actor, director, and musician, who has had an extensive career working in both Japanese and international cinema. He has been nominated for five Japan Academy Film Prizes, twice for Best Actor and ...

, Michiyo Okusu, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, and

Akira Emoto is a Japanese actor. Career In 1999, he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Dr. Akagi''. He also won the award for best supporting actor at the 7th Hochi Film Award for '' Dotonbori River'' and '' Hearts an ...

in supporting roles. A revival of the classic '' Zatoichi'' series of samurai film and television dramas, the film premiered on 2 September 2003 at the

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, where it won the prestigious Silver Lion for Best Director award, and went on to numerous other awards both at home and abroad.

Plot

The film's plot follows a traditional theme, with Zatoichi (a blind swordsman) coming to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

gang war and being forced to pay excessive amounts of

protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

. Meanwhile, Zatoichi befriends a local farmer and her gambler nephew and eventually offers his assistance to two

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...

siblings (one of whom is actually a man) who are seeking revenge for the murder of their parents. The siblings are the only survivors of a robbery and massacre that was carried out on their family estate ten years ago. They soon discover the people responsible for the murders are the same yakuza wreaking havoc on the small town. After slicing his way through an army of henchmen with his sword, Zatoichi defeats the yakuza's bodyguard, a powerful

rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...

, in a duel. Zatoichi later wanders into town and confronts the yakuza bosses, killing the second-in-command after surprising him by opening his eyes and blinding the elderly yakuza boss (who had been masquerading as a bumbling old waiter up until this point). The film ends with a dance number led by noted Japanese

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

troupe The Stripes, and Zatoichi walking down a trail and tripping over a rock, saying: "Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see anything."

Cast

as Zatoichi *

as the

Hattori Gennosuke * Michiyo Okusu as Aunt O-ume, the

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

* Yui Natsukawa as O-shino, Hattori's wife * Daigoro Tachibana as O-sei * Taichi Saotome as young O-sei * Yūko Daike as O-kinu, sister of Osei. * Guadalcanal Taka as Shinkichi, gambler nephew of Oume. * Ittoku Kishibe as Ginzo, gang leader * Saburo Ishikura as Ogiya, gang leader *

as "Pops", tavern owner

Production

Kitano revealed that he was approached by others to create the film, and therefore differed from his own techniques, following the common filmmaking process in order to please them and make a pure-entertainment film. This film marks Kitano's first collaboration with composer Keiichi Suzuki, ending an eleven-year streak with

Joe Hisaishi , known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, inclu ...

. The director said he made the decision feeling that the film needed percussion-based music, and that Hisaishi is not a flexible composer, and also suggested that Hisaishi had become too expensive for him. Costumes were created by Kazuko Kurosawa. Kitano used digital technology to increase the gore of the fights.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed in Japan.

Critical response

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Zatoichi'' had a approval rating of 87% based on 127 reviews and an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Colorful, rich with action and wonderfully choreographed, Takeshi Kitano takes on the classic samurai character with his own brand of cinematic flair".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Peter Bradshaw of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave ''Zatoichi'' four out of five stars. Jasper Sharp of '' Midnight Eye'' praised the film as "pure cinematic magic". Allan Tong of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' said: "When Zatoichi is on screen, the film erupts with brilliant fury in unforgettable action sequences". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' praised the film, while comparing it to ''

Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...

'', '' Sanjuro'' and '' Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance''.

Awards

* 2003, September 6,

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, Silver Lion for Best Direction, Venice * 2003, Audience Award Leone Del Pubblico, Venice * 2003, September 14, 28th International

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

, Audience Award AGF People's Choice Award, Toronto * 2003,

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

* 2004, February 20, Japan Academy Prize, Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing, Outstanding Achievement in Music, Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording, Tokyo

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zatoichi (2003 film) Zatoichi films 2003 films 2003 action films Japanese action films 2000s samurai films Yakuza films Films about blind people Films directed by Takeshi Kitano 2000s Japanese-language films Shochiku films Cross-dressing in film Films about child prostitution Films about disability in Japan 2000s Japanese films Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award winners Films scored by Keiichi Suzuki