From The Vault: Zatoichi (2003)

In 2003, Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman was released to surprisingly good reviews, and since then I have always wanted to see it but never had the chance. The film is a remake acted and directed by famed Japanese film & TV Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, who is known for breaking genre conventions. For the uninitiated, Zatoichi is a fictional Japanese character created by novelist Kan Shimozawa who is portrayed usually as a blind masseur who has bad ass sword fighting skills. Along with the Lone Wold & Cub films, this series is partially responsible for the ultra-violent samurai film genre, complete with spraying blood, and all the shit that makes any action film fan squirt. Kitano handles the film well by staying true to the character conventions of the series, but adds a bit of light hearted humor that is not forced. The violent sequences play out well in contrast to the dramatic sequences, and every bit of blood spilled in the film by Zatoichi is done so with good reason. Every aspect of the film bleeds with a unique nature, from the color design that emulates a washed out Eastman color filming systems prevalent in the 1950's to late 60's cinema, to the Jeunet-esque method of incorporating background ambient noise into the soundtrack, to a tap-dance number at the end. Walking away from it, 7 years was a long time to wait to watch a great film. So...

Final Verdict:Worth Owning

Side note: As you may have noticed, this review is much shorter than my analytical reviews of current films being released. I have decided to keep them short and sweet since I have gone out of my way to watch them for pure entertainment, and not to see how it stands up to current standards.