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Product Detail |
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Audio Format: DD 5.1
Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic))
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Code: A
Year Made: 2003
Running Time: 116
Release Date: 09/15/2009
 Beat Takeshi Kitano directs and plays the title role in this tribute to the wildly popular "blind swordsman" of Japanese cinema who was the hero of more than 20 movies and a television series from the early '60s to the late '80s. In Kitano's version, Zatoichi wanders into a town harassed by criminal gangs, and helps two geishas take revenge on the men who murdered their parents. His mission leads him to a final, bloody confrontation with the gang's mastermind and his hired assassin (Tadanobu Asano), a swordsman with a reputation as lethal as Zatoichi.
Beat Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi is an artfully crowd-pleasing riff on the samurai action film. Zatoichi , the beloved hero of a long-running series of genre flicks (which still play regularly on American television), is the perfect match for the impishly violent screen persona Kitano has developed over the course of his film career in films like Fireworks and Brother. With his eyes closed and sporting a knowing smile, he dispatches baddie after baddie in a spray of digitized blood. Kitano the director is fully aware that he's dealing in pure pulp and he revels in it, injecting genre conventions with the visceral, yet stylized, violence his fans have come to expect.
As an actor, he clearly relishes the role of Zatoichi, who roams the country posing as a blind masseur, but who is, in reality, the most dangerous swordsman in the land. Even better, he tops the whole thing off with a tap dancing curtain call involving the entire cast that nods to the joyful exuberance of Bollywood and ends the film on an irresistibly upbeat note. A pop-culture creation, Zatoichi, as played in the original films by Shintaro Katsu, has become a mythic figure almost on a par with characters from ancient legend. With this vastly entertaining addition to the series, Kitano proves himself to be just the right man to carry on the tradition.
For his 11th film as a writer-director, KITANO Takeshi also stars, reviving the cult action anti-hero Zatoichi. "ZATOICHI" marks the first time KITANO directs a period piece, and he exchanges his trademark yakuza guns for a cane sword of lightning-fast speed."
19th Century Japan... Zatoichi is a blind wanderer who makes a 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 discovers a remote mountain town at the mercy of the Ginzo gang. The ruthless Ginzo disposes of anyone who gets in their way, quicker than ever since they recruited Hattori, the mighty ronin.
In a gambling joint, Zatoichi and trustworthy young friend Shinkichi meet up with a couple of geishas. As dangerous as they are beautiful, Okinu and her sister Osei have come to town to avenge their parents' murder. With their only clue being the mysterious name Kuchinawa, the geisha sisters have lots of tricks up their sleeves. Sinister henchmen are soon hunting down Zatoichi. With his legendary cane sword at his side, Zatoichi?? path is destined for many violent showdowns...
KITANO Takeshi, Director
 Since the extraordinary success of 1997's "Hana-Bi", Kitano has been recognized as a leading figure of international cinema. Among its numerous awards, "Hana-Bi" won Venice's Golden Lion and was named Best Non-European Film by the European Film Academy. "Hana-Bi" was cited on numerous "Best Films of the Year" lists, often in the premiere position. In 2000, Kitano made "Brother", his first film shot outside of his native Japan. Like "Brother", Kitano-directed films such as his debut "Violent Cop" (1989), "Boilin Point" (1990) and "Sonatine" (1993) centered around yakuza gangster characters. The filmmaker contrasted the violence and action of those films with comedy or tenderness in films like "A Scene at the Sea" (l991), "Getting Any?" (1995), "Kids Return" (1996), "Kikujiro" (1999) and "Dolls" (2002).
Special Features:
- Trailer
- Making of
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