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Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 12 - Zatoichi and the Chess Expert Director: Kenji Misumi Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 87 minutes Studio: Home Vision Entertainment Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-05-18 Buy from Amazon |
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From Description With 25 film sequels and upwards of 100 TV episodes, Shintaro Katsu is the legendary Zatoichi! He’s a low-ranking blind masseur who lives by the Yakuza code and answers his foes with a deadly cane sword. By far one of Japan’s most time-honored screen personas, Zatoichi is to this day the ultimate everyman anti-hero. Zatoichi and the Chess Expert is a visual feast of swordplay and relentless action. The blind swordsman befriends a wandering, chess-loving, battle-thirsty samurai and helps a young girl who has been accidentally wounded in a brutal sword fight. This spectacular film, photographed in gorgeous color and directed by samurai specialist Kenji Misumi, shows Zatoichi at his best: battling rival yakuza and angry relatives seeking retribution. |
 "And Brains, Too!"Another of the Zatoichi series. In this one, blind masseur and master swordsman Ichi is traveling to Enoshima on a ship, and gets in trouble with a gang for his usual gambling tricks. However, he is befriended by Jumonji, a loner, seemingly samurai, who denies the title, saying he's really a killer. Jumonji is a shogi (Japanese chess) master, and while aboard ship, the two play several games. After disembarking on the island, the thugs attack Ichi while he's playing a chess game with Jumonji, who thinks they're after him. In the ensuing fight, a passing child is hurt, and when she develops a fever, Ichi feels duty-bound to pay for her medicine and lodging. Jumonji offers him space in his carnival booth, where he earns 5-mon (?) pieces by catching them on a stick (Incredible? You don't know Zatoichi!). Ichi then buys the medicine, but is attacked on the way back. He succeeds in killing all the attackers, but loses the box of medicine. Will he find it? I'm not telling! Nor will I tell the rest of the story, but suffice it to say that the denouement of the plot really depends on Ichi's brains, and the swordplay, although exciting enough, is really secondary to the solution of a mystery, which only becomes apparent toward the end of the movie. "Excellent"I am a huge fan of Zatoichi and I've collected alot of his films. This is among the best. I definitely would recommend this and other Zatoichi movies if your a fan of samurai cinema.  "One of the better ones in the Zatoichi series"Zatoichi films were produced by different directors and the results varied from one to another. Misumi Kenji, who also directed the very first one, seemed to always spend more film footage on character development, resulting in more matured story lines with better-defined personalities. This "Zatoichi Jigokutabi" ( Zatoichi, trip through hell ) was one of the best in the series. Narita Mikio, playing the character Jumonji, was one of the most interesting villains to show up in the episodes, and, Hayashi Chizuru, as the sister seeking vengence, was the most attractive actress to appear in the 1960's Zaitoichi episodes. "Not the best, but more than good enough"Zatoichi is one of the most solid film series around. I've yet to see all of the entries, but of the dozen or so I have seen (including Katsu's 1989 rehash of the character and Takeshi Kitano's 2003 reinterpretation of it), there isn't a rotten egg in the bunch. Zatoichi and the Chess Expert soars on it's character development and interesting relationships between characters. However, the action here is not the best in the series. Some of the technical aspects are a little off (the way some of the quicker, shorter fight scenes are edited is often jarring and unconvincing; most of the big, important fights though are quite good), and I would have liked to spend more time with some of the characters, a common complaint that I have with many of the series' entries. Still, this is a film not to be missed. You can't go wrong with a Zatoichi film, and Zatoichi and the Chess Expert is certainly in at least the top third of the series, if only for it's great and complex characters and relationships. Home Vision's DVD is beautiful! One of the best transfers of the bunch. Some of the closeups were sharper than transfers of movies made in the past five years. A really great disc of a classic, if slightly faulted, film. "Errors in judgements and travelling companions"A chess master, one who is so jealous of his own talent that he kills any player who beats him. A woman, disguised as a man, traveling with her brother and fleeing some unknown hunter. A beautiful, gentle lady and her wounded child, dying but without money to buy medicine. A blind masseur, with an uncanny swiftness and ability with a sword. These are the cast of characters that set the stage for the 12th Zatoichi film, "Zatoichi and the Chess Expert" ("Zatoichi Jigoku tabi:" literal translation "Zatoichi's Trip to Hell.") This is one of the best Zatoichi films that I have seen. The characters make for an interesting mix, each likable and formidable in their own way, but each harboring secrets that make them vipers hidden in the brush. The Chess Expert becomes Zatoichi's ally and traveling companion, each maximizing on the talents of the other to earn money. And Zatoichi needs money, to buy medicine for the poor child who was wounded in a sword fight that the masseur was involved in. The child's mother, beautiful and sorrowful, falls slowly in love with Zatoichi, even though she must betray him. The sister and brother are wild cards, somehow shattering the peace of the trip, as murder follows in their wake. It all comes to an explosive finish, with companions battling companions, and secrets stripped bare. The melancholy love between Zatoichi and the beautiful woman is heart rending, though doomed. An excellent chambara flick all around, and a great Zatoichi film. |
