The blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Writers: Takeshi Kitano (screenplay), Kan Shimozawa (novels)
Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Yui Natsukawa.
Storyline
Blind Zatoichi makes his living by gambling and giving massages. But behind his humble facade, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Zatoichi wanders into a town run by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. He's destined for violent showdowns when he stumbles on two beautiful geishas avenging their parents' murder... Duels, wit and a touch of zen! Cult anti-hero Zatoichi is back in a sword-fighting adventure written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano.
User Reviews
What more is there to say? Zatoichi is a class act, all the way. Time and time again Takeshi Kitano proves himself an honorable, direct, and honest filmmaker. There is no whiff of pretense, nonsense, or any other kind of malodorous sense emanating from this film. All is well when you enter into one of Beat Takeshi's film worlds. It puts all of Western cinema to deep shame, for its trite, condescending, and totally vapid worldviews. That Beat Takeshi is so well-regarded in France and Italy speaks well of cultural refinement of these nations. And to find so few reviews of Takeshi's work in the Western media exposures a gaping void in everybody's understanding of the Eastern hemisphere. The sensible, sane, and helpful ideals of Confucianism permeate this film to its very core. Overall, Zatoichi is essential viewing for anyone who would like to consider themselves even remotely human.
