SAMURAI FICTION (4 outta 5 stars) What a terrific movie! It's described as a comedy but, while it does have a lot of humour in it, I think it holds up pretty well with any of the classic samurai stories. The movie is in black and white (with select use of colored images throughout) and I found the visual style very reminiscent of early Kurosawa. In fact, if I had been told that this was an early Kurosawa movie I would have believed it completely. Except for the soundtrack, that is! As old fashioned as the look of the movie is, it has a very modern rock soundtrack by the great Tomayasu Hotei (you know his music from "Kill Bill"). Tomayasu even co-stars in the movie.. playing Kazamatsuri, the badass samurai who steals a clan's revered ceremonial sword and triggers some strong (violent) emotions. After nearly killing a trio of young men bent on recovering the sword, Kazamatsuri becomes obsessed with fighting a peace-loving samurai master who has given up the idea of violence and killing. But maybe he will change his tune if his daughter is threatened...? Great plot, great performances... the actual swordplay may seem a little less flashy than most modern epics but its still exciting stuff, especially when backed by Tomayasu's stirring rock score! The soundtrack might be the one thing that puts people off this movie... personally I didn't find it distracting or "wrong" at all. The old-style movie directing and the "MTV Music" style melded perfectly.
Review of Samurai Fiction
