#Zatoichi the Outlaw

[chernobog13]

ZATOICHI THE OUTLAW (1967)

The 16th film in the original 26-film series, and the second of three released in 1967. This was also the first Zatoichi film produced by star Shintaro Katsu's newly formed production company, aptly named Katsu Productions.

This time around, Ichi meets a wordless ronin who battles his opponents without killing them. The ronin, based on a historical figure, is sort of an Edo-era hippie, advocating a peaceful, communal life with people abstaining from gambling. drinking, and visiting prostitutes.

That makes the local yakuza, led by Boss Asagoro, angry because they make the bulk of their money from those activities. They try to take their anger out on the ronin and his many followers, which is where Ichi and his fighting skills get involved.

[redsamuraiii]

Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)

What a chill place.

[ozu-teapot]

Zatoichi the Outlaw | Satsuo Yamamoto | 1967

Yûko Hamada

[iwasbornbut]

Zatôichi the Outlaw. Satsuo Yamamoto. Japan. 1967. 

[jailhouse41]

Press photo for Zatoichi The Outlaw (座頭市牢破り), 1967, directed by Satsuo Yamamoto (山本薩夫) and starring Shintaro Katsu (勝新太郎).

[lorlorlorlorlor-blog]

Asian dramas and movies

A list of the dramas, movies and shows that I have watched.

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e SP

Hanamizuki

One Litre of Tears

One Litre of Tears movie

Tantei Gakuen Q live action

Detective Conan live action movie 1

Detective Conan live action movie 2

Detective Conan live action movie 3

Great Detective Conan: Challenge To Shinichi Kudo

I Love My Younger Sister live action

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

Gokusen

Gokusen 2

Gokusen 3

Gokusen movie

Death Note

Death Note 2: The Last Name

Death Note 3: L Change The World

14 Sai no Haha

Koukou Debut

Kurosagi

Nodame Cantabile live action

Nodame Cantabile SP

Lovely Complex live action

Hana Yori Dango

Hana Yori Dango 2

Kimi ni Todoke live action

I Give My First Love To You

Koizora

Atashinchi no Danshi

Ju On

Ju On 2

Ju On 3

Prince of Tennis live action

Ikemen Desu Ne

Ouran High School Host Club live action series

Ouran High School Host Club live action movie

Paradise Kiss

Zenkai Girl

Nobuta wo Produce

Akihabara@Deep

Bloody Monday

Bloody Monday 2

Honey and Clover

Kimi wa Petto

Propose Kyoudai

Pink no Idenshi

Stand Up!

Yukan Club (not yet done)

Ring 1

Ring 2

Ring 3

Ring 0

Zatoichi

Spring Story

Buzzer Beat

The Victim

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Friendship

Brown Sugar Macchiato

Bull Fighting

Devil Beside You

Why, Why Love

Hi My Sweetheart

Fated To Love You

Hot Shot

Corner With Love/Love At The Corner

Meteor Garden

Meteor Garden 2

Meteor Rain

My MVP Valentine

Frog Prince

Silence

Love Storm

Dolphin Bay

Lavender

Full House

Dream High

Shining Inheritance

Heartstrings/You’ve Fallen For Me

Secret Garden

Playful Kiss

Love of The Condor Heroes

All About Eve

Irene

Attic Cat

Endless Love 1: Autumn In My Heart

Endless Love 2: Winter Sonata

Endless Love 3: Summer Scent

Coffee Prince

Jang Geum

Dal Ja’s Spring

My Sassy Girl, Choon-Hyang

Love Truly/Really Really Like You

Stairway To Heaven

My Name Is Kim Sam Soon

Love Story In Harvard

Attack On The Pin-Up Boys

Temptation of Wife

200 Pounds Beauty

100 Days With Mr. Arrogant

Jenny and Juno

Virgin Snow

Windstruck

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

Jewel In The Palace

Robot

Three Idiots

Shutter

Ruk Man Yai Mak (Love Julinsee - Love at 4 Size)

Suck Seed

Yes or No

Hormones: The Confusing Teens

Seasons Change

Sunny

You Are My Pet

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time live action

Samurai High School

City Hunter

IRIS

Dream High 2

Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Blind

Skip Beat

Spellbound/Chilling Romance

Bokura ga Ita: Zenpen

Bokura ga Ita: Kouhen

To The Beautiful You

Panda and Hedgehog

You’re Beautiful

Mirai Nikki Live Action

A Gentleman’s Dignity

Phobia/4bia

Rich Man, Poor Woman

Turn Left, Turn Right

5 Prang

Seducing Mr. Perfect

A Good Day To Have An Affair

Sad Movie

Ghajini

Reply 1997

Rurouni Kenshin

Rooftop Prince

My Little Bride

Code Blue Season 1

Risou no Musuko

ATM Error

IRIS 2

Himitsu no Akko-chan

School 2013

The Naked Kitchen

Hana Kimi Remake

Jackal Is Coming

Love On That Day

Level 7/7th Grade Civil Servant

Last Cinderella

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemashite

Pee Mak Phra Kanong

Yamada-kun to Nananin no Majo

Just One Second

Summer Nude

Reply 1994

Queen In Hyun’s Man

The Heirs

Marry Him If You Dare

Emergency Couple

Rough Play

No Breathing

The Commitment

Angel Eyes

It’s Okay, That’s Love

Birth of A Beauty

Fall In Love With Me

Master’s Sun

The Three Musketeers

The Pirates

Blue Spring Ride

You Are The Apple Of My Eye

Kyoto Inferno

The Legend Ends

Pinocchio

Ex-Girlfriend’s Club

School 2015

School 2017

While You Were Sleeping

My Secret Romance

Love O2O

Because This Is My First Life

Fight For My Way

Second Love

Baby and Me

The Outlaws

Midnight Runners

Bad Genius

Your Lie In April

Haruta and Chika

Reply 1988

Descendants of The Sun

Let’s Fight Ghost

Confession of Murder

Tokyo Ghoul live action

Code Blue 2

Code Blue 3

Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds

Along With The Gods: Last 49 Days

Radio Romance

Hormones 2

Hormones: The Final Season

A Love So Beautiful

Ajin: Demi-human

Crash Landing On You

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim

Extreme Job

Parasite

Kingdom Season 1

Kingdom Season 2

Doctor Romantic Season 1

Goblin

Touch Your Heart

Her Private Life

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

Strong Girl Do Bong-soon

Love Alarm

My  First First Love

I Am Not A Robot

My ID Is Gangnam Beauty

The Girl Who Sees Scent

Hotel Del Luna

Remember

U-Prince Series

A Korean Odyssey

The Package

Doctor Romantic 2

The Prince of Tennis 2019

Start-Up

Ordinary People

Itaewon Class

Hi Bye, Mama!

The Divine Fury

Back To The 90s

The Dude In Me

Put Your Head On My Shoulder

The K2

Hyde, Jekyll, Me

She Was Pretty

He Is Psychometric

Sky Castle

My Annoying Brother

Scarlet Heart: Ryeo

Find Yourself

Good Morning Call

Love In The Moonlight

Hospital Playlist

Kkondae Intern

The World Of The Married

Sotus

Was It Love?

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

Who Are You 2020

Love Lasts Forever

Empress Ki

The Uncanny Counter

Run On

True Beauty

Sweet Home

Lovestruck In The City

A Love So Beautiful (2020)

18 Again

The Con-Heartist

My God!! Father

Space Sweepers

On Your Wedding Day

The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity

L <3 DK

How To Be Thirty

Seobok

Forgotten

Vincenzo

Confidential Assignment

Mr. Queen

Hometown Chachacha

Hospital Playlist 2

D.P.

Squid Game

Police University

Kingdom: Ashin of the North

Cheer Up, Mr. Lee

Sweet and Sour

Death Note: Light Up The New World

Orange

Prison Playbook

Oh My Ladylord

Law School

Sell Your Haunted House

Alice in Borderland

Still 2gether

Move to Heaven

My Name

Our Beloved Summer

The Door Into Summer

Bad and Crazy

AI Love You

Love and Leashes

Thirty-Nine

Twenty Five, Twenty One

Forecasting Love and Weather

Juvenile Justice

Business Proposal

My Father is Strange

[skinks]

hi!!! what are your favourite movies? like actually good ones but also any trashy comfort movies? is IT (2017) one of them?

Hello!! IT (2017) IS ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THEM oh man, thank you for this, I love talking about movies!!!! This is possibly the most difficult question you could have asked me. Apologies for how absolutely off the rails this got, I just... love movies so much lmao

I’ve said this before, but opening night of IT ch1 was the best cinema experience I’ve ever had, I’m so glad I got to see it with a fully packed audience who were all laughing and screaming together the whole way through. I’m a huge fan of... everything ch1 was doing, the 80s nostalgia, the summer-coming-of-age themes, the solid ghost train funhouse JOY of the Pennywise performance and scares, the washed-out cinematography, the tiny background details to make everything that much more eerie, the kids’ ACTING?!

Like, a lot of the time I find child actors can be really awkward and stilted to watch, but I remember leaving the cinema really impressed by JDG and Sophia Lillis in particular. I liked that they were all allowed to be little shitheads with potty mouths, it felt like a callback to 80s movies like The Lost Boys or Stand By Me. The whole thing worked to make me really care about what happened to the kids (even if I do still have issues with how they handled Mike. I understand even ch1 had limitations with juggling so many characters, but still). I saw it another 2 times in the cinema and have rewatched it at least, I dunno, 7-10 more times since then?

Add to all of that the retroactive CANON R+E baby pining subplot? I just love it, as if that wasn’t obvious by now given my Whole Blog. It’s a really special movie to me!

Anyway!! Ok, the main handful of movies I rewatch all the fucking time are:

Back to the Future, The Lost Boys, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Jaws, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Ocean’s 11, POTC 1, The Dark Knight, Inception, Die Hard, LOTR trilogy, Snatch, The Nice Guys, Logan Lucky, Mad Max Fury Road, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing, Tomb Raider (2018)...

Those are the easily consumable ones that I’ve seen so many times I don’t really have to concentrate or think about them, but I really love them and unfortunately often KEEP rewatching them instead of new stuff. It would take too long to go into why I love all these movies so much because I could write the same amount as I already did for ITCH1, and everyone already knows why those movies are good, so, lol.

I think I’m gonna have to subdivide and categorise this whole post because there are too many separate criteria for... goOD MOVIES, AUUHH 😩

Okay so first off, HORROR MOVIES? I’m especially in love with Re-Animator (1985) and its sequel Bride of Re-Animator, they’re such good examples of camp and batshit 80s practical effects, and also EXTREMELY funny. I’m actually just gonna post my list of my fave horror movies that I do actually keep on my phone at all times lmao. These are in no particular order:

Wholeheartedly recommend every one of these. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was watching Hereditary in the cinema, hoo boy. Mother! by Aronofsky is one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had (and I actually saw it on the same day I saw IT ch1 for the first time!! That was a fun day)

Psycho (1960) and The Fly from 1986 should also be on there but I couldn’t fit them in the screenshot.

I’m a HUGE fan of a ton of martial arts movies too, like Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, Ip Man, The Raid movies, John Wick 3 is my fave of the trilogy, Drive from 1997 with Mark Dacascos is incredible, SPL 2, Ong-Bak, Operation Condor, Project A, Iron Monkey, and Zatoichi (2003) are some favourites.

My favourite Tarantino is Reservoir Dogs, fave Coen brothers are Raising Arizona, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and O Brother Where Art Thou. Love some old-timey colour correction and weird offbeat dialogue. I also love Goodfellas!!! And Donnie Brasco! And The Firm, I’m so easy for any good crime/law/gangster/heist procedural like that, especially if they’re from the 80s or 90s in a super dated way.

Fave Disney movie is Tarzan, favourite Ghibli movies are Spirited Away and Lupin III. I remember watching Spirited Away during a thunderstorm one time and it being.... god! Transcendent! Favourite Pixar movie is The Incredibles (the first one. ALSO the documentary “The Pixar Story” is great and well worth a watch, it’s very comforting for some reason) and my favourite Dreamworks movies are HTTYD1 and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron.

I tend to watch more anime movies than tv shows, so stuff like Akira, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Journey to Agartha, and my ultimate fave anime is Sword of the Stranger (2008). The climactic fight in that movie is fucking stunning and should be counted in “bests fights” lists right alongside anything live action

Also if we’re talking animated movies another hearty favourite is Rango, and a Belgian stop-motion (which at one time I considered my favourite movie ever) called Panique Au Village (2009) which is one of the funniest movies ever made imo.

As for TRASHY movies, I’m not sure if that’s the right word for how I feel about these ones but.. dumb/silly/slightly guilty pleasure movies? Ones that I feel need some kind of justification lmfao

Troy - something u must know about me is that I’m a giant slut for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so if a movie smashes historical and mythological nonsense together with fun costumes and sword fights, I’m gonna enjoy myself. Even if they should have made Achilles and Patroclus gay. Other movies in this vein are King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Immortals (2011)

Gods of Egypt - I know all the reasons this movie is whitewashed bullshit. But it was already bullshit with giant Anubis mecha and giant snakes and bad acting and ridiculous CGI and frankly I had a blast at the cinema (my friend who I forced to come with me did not have a blast. Sorry H***)

Avatar - yes, the one with the big blue people. This movie gets a lot of flack nowadays but I really do enjoy it just for the spectacle. The full CGI world technology was so new at the time and I love to wallow in the visuals and daydream about riding a cool dragon around in the jungle

George of the Jungle - I’ll defend this movie to the death ok this movie shaped me as a person, it is fucking hilarious and Brendan Fraser is the himbo to end all himbos. It’s perfect. The song Dela is perfect. I still want to write a reddie AU about it. It’s one of the best movies ever made and I’m not being ironic

Set It Up - I KNOW this is a dumb Netflix original romcom but consider this; it was funny and the leads had great chemistry. I got butterflies. I once watched it and then literally immediately set it back to the start so I could watch it again

The Brady Bunch Movie - when people talk about great satires or parodies you will see them bring up the same movies over and over again, Blazing Saddles, This Is Spinal Tap etc, but they never talk about The Brady Bunch Movie from 1995 for some reason, which they should. It is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and every time i watch it somehow it gets funnier

Some more general favourites that I do still love but don’t rewatch as often, and don’t wanna go into more detail about are:

Moon (2009), Crna Mačka Beli Mačor, The Sixth Sense, Parasite, The Handmaiden, Tremors, Wet Hot American Summer, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt For the Wilderpeople, The Secret of My Success (I love kitschy 80s movies, is that obvious by now), The Green Mile, When Harry Met Sally, Rear Window, The Odd Couple, Breaking Away, Pan’s Labyrinth, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Eagle, Gladiator, The Artist, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Call Me By Your Name, Master and Commander, Pacific Rim, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Legend (1985), Emma. (2020), Flash Gordon, Trolljegeren, Hross í Oss, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, WarGames, District 9, Ajeossi (2010), Tracks (2013), Sightseers, Mud (2012), Pitch Black, Four Lions, Shaun of the Dead, Starship Troopers, The Truman Show, Withnail & I....... Jesus Christ ok I need to stop

NOTABLE EXTREME FAVOURITES that I didn’t include in the regular rewatch list because they’re too heavy/not as well known/require more attention.:

Thin Red Line (1998), Badlands (1973) both dir. Terrence Malick

Malick’s brand of dreamy impressionistic filmmaking is something I find really appealing, both of these movies are gorgeous and unusual and poignant and, in the case of Thin Red Line at least, have a lot of things to say about a lot of rough subjects. I don’t totally understand all those things sometimes, but a theme with a lot of my favourite movies is that I’ll be more likely to love something long-term if it raises unanswered questions, or is surreal/esoteric etc. Plus the cinematography is incredible, and I wish there was a way to get Jim Caviezel’s narration from The Thin Red Line as an audiobook because it’s very poetic and soothing.

Let the Bullets Fly (2010) dir. Jiang Wen

This movie is WILD, it’s so much fun. It’s sprawling and intricate and epic and smart and really fucking funny, it! Has! Everything! A gang of very tolerant outlaws!! Jiang Wen’s beautiful broad chest!!! Chow Yun Fat absolutely DECIMATING the scenery, and the two of them outsmarting each other in order to gain control of a small Chinese town!!! Plus it’s long, but it packs so much nonsense and intrigue that it goes by really fast. Wow what a flick

A Field in England (2013) dir. Ben Wheatley

I know I included this in my horror list but aaaaahhh ahhhh Wheatley is one of my favourite directors (he also made Sightseers, and is directing the Tomb Raider sequel which makes me absolutely rabid.) This is a surreal black-and-white psychological horror black comedy set in the English Civil War about some deserters who may or may not meet the Devil in a field. People eat mushrooms. It’s bonkers. I love being blasted in the face with imagery that I don’t understand

Mandy (2018) dir. Panos Cosmatos

Speaking of being blasted in the face!!!!! This movie... I saw it in the cinema and I can’t even begin to explain the experience, but I’ll try. My favourite review site described it like this:

“...somewhere between a prog album cover come to life and a metal album cover come to life, and subscribes to both genre's artistic tendency towards maximalism: what it ends up being is basically naught else but two glorious hours of being pounded by bold colors...”

So, prog and metal are my two favourite genres of music. This movie opens with the quote “When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I'm dead.” and then a King Crimson song, it is SURREAL to the nth degree, it’s violent and bizarre and Nic Cage forges a giant silver axe to destroy demonic bikers and there is a CHAINSAW DUEL. A galaxy swirls above a quarry. Multiple animated horror nightmare sequences. At one point a man says “you exude a cosmic darkness” and releases a live tiger. At another point Cage says, in a digitally deepened voice, “The psychotic drowns where the mystic swims. You’re drowning. I’m swimming.” and I haven’t stopped thinking about it for two years

Paper Moon (1973) dir. Peter Bogdanovich

Really fantastic movie set in the Great Depression (and also in black & white) about a conman and a little kid who may or may not be his daughter, running cons across the Midwest. It’s beautifully shot, so sharp and sweet and the progression of their dynamic is really well done because they’re played by an IRL father and daughter. Tatum O’Neal was NINE YEARS OLD and she’s so amazing in this movie she’s actually the youngest person to win a competitive category Oscar. I keep trying to get people to watch this fbdjfjdbf it’s wonderful

Alpha (2018) dir. Albert Hughes

THIS MOVIE IS A VICTIM OF BAD MARKETING ok, the trailers made it look like some twee crappy sentimental Boy And His Dog Adventure, plus it had voiceovers in American-accented english? That’s a total disservice to one of the coolest things about this film; the fact that they got a linguist to construct an entirely original Neolithic language that all the characters speak for the entire runtime. And yes, it is eventually a Boy And His Wolf adventure, but it’s COOL and fairly brutal, and it has some really incredible cinematography. The landscapes are so strange and barren and alien, you really get the sense that this is an ancient world we no longer have any connection to. And it’s also about like, the birth of dog & human companionship sooo it’s perfect.

Free Solo (2018) dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

The Free Climbing Documentary. I loved climbing as a kid, I love outdoor sports, and I love movies that elicit a physical reaction in me, whether that’s horny, scared, real laughter, overwhelming shivers, or in the case of Free Solo - HORRIBLE SWEATING TENSION. Like, I knew about Alex Honnold beforehand because of this adventure film festival I go to every year and I followed him on IG so obviously I knew he lived, but the actual climb itself was torture. My hands sweat every time I see it!! It’s incredible, such a cool look into generally what the human body can do, and more specifically, why Honnold’s psychology and life means he’s so well suited to free soloing. It’s such an exercise in getting to know an individual and get invested in them, before they attempt something very potentially fatal.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) dir. Ang Lee

I can’t even talk about this. When I was around 13 I snuck downstairs to watch this on TV at 11pm in secret, and my life was forever changed. I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t seen Brokeback at the age I did. I seriously can’t talk about this or I’ll write an even longer essay than this already is

God’s Own Country (2017) dir. Francis Lee

The antidote to Brokeback Mountain, I’m so glad I managed to see this one in the cinema too. It makes me cry every time, as someone who’s spent years working on a cold British farm with sheep it was very realistic, which is expected since Lee grew up on a farm in Yorkshire. I love that this movie isn’t really about being closeted, but about being so emotionally repressed and self-loathing that the main character finds it so hard to accept love. Or that he deserves to be loved. The cinnamontographies.... lordt... but also the intimacy and sex scenes are fucking searing wow who hasn’t seen this movie by now. 10 stars. 20 stars!!!

Tomboy (2011) dir. Céline Sciamma

I saw this years ago but I’ve never forgotten it, it cut so deep. It’s from the director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it’s about a gnc kid struggling with gender and misogyny and homophobia in a really raw, scrappy way, it reminded me very much of my own... childhood... ahh the central performance is amazing for such a young age. I haven’t seen Portrait yet but I feel like if you went nuts for that, you should definitely check this out, it’s lovely.

Donnie Darko (2001) dir. Richard Kelly

EVERY TIME I WATCH THIS MOVIE I UNDERSTAND LESS AND LESS and that’s what I love so much about it. I love surreal movies, I love time-fuckery and stuff about altered perception etc etc and Donnie Darko scratches all my itches. I wish I could find a way to figure out an IT AU for it, because I know it would work! Somehow! Plus it’s got the subdued 80s nostalgia and I found it at an age when I was really starting to explore movies and music and the soundtrack FUCKS.

Offside (2006) dir. Jafar Panahi

I wish more people knew about this!!! It’s an Iranian film about a disparate group of women and girls who are football fans and want to watch Iran’s qualifying match for the World Cup, but women aren’t allowed into the stadium, so they all get thrown into the Stadium Jail together? They don’t know each other beforehand, but it’s about their changing relationships with each other and the guards and just, their defiance alongside hearing the match from the outside and WOW it’s so lively. Great dialogue and very funny, and such a different kind of story from anything you usually see from Hollywood.

The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh

This movie... I guess it’s the ideal. This is the platonic ideal of a film for me, it has fantasy, magical realism, glorious visuals, amazing score and costumes and production design and a really interesting, heartbreaking relationship at the core of it. I don’t know why so many of my favourite films feature incredibly raw performances by child actors but this is another one, Catinca Untaru barely knew any English and improvised so much because of that, and it’s fascinating to watch! Also the dynamic with Lee Pace is one of my favourites, where a kid forms a friendship with a guardian figure who isn’t their parent, but the guardian grows to really care for them by the end. It’s like Paper Moon in that sense. What is there to even say about this movie, it’s pure magic joy tempered and countered by genuine gutwrenching emotional conflict in the real world, it’s also ABOUT old moviemaking, in a way, and it’s stunning to look at!

Mad Max Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller

I know I included this in my “most rewatched” section but it deserves its own thing. We all know why this movie is fucking incredible. I remember clutching my armrests in the cinema and feeling like my skeleton was being blasted back into the seat behind me and tbh that is the high I’m constantly chasing when I go to see any movie. What a fucking gift this film is

Théo et Hugo dans le Même Bateau (2016) dir. Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

I only found this movie last year and it became an instant favourite. Initially I was just curious because I’d never seen a movie with unsimulated sex before, but it’s so much more than the 18 minute gay sex club orgy it opens with. No, not more than, AS WELL AS. The orgy is important because this movie is so candid and frank about sex and HIV treatment in the modern day, it was eye-opening. Another thing that really got me is that I’d never seen a real-time film before. It’s literally an hour and a half in the lives of these two men, their intense connection and conversation and conflict in the middle of the night in Paris, with some really nice night photography and just!!! Wow!!! AMAZING CHEMISTRY between the actors. This is such a gem if you’re comfortable with explicit sexual content.

Ok. This is already over 3k but film is obviously one of my ridiculous passions and I can and do talk about it for hours. I’ve been reading magazines about it for years, listening to podcasts and reading review blogs and recently, watching video essays on YouTube because the whole process is so interesting to me and I want to learn more!!

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of valuing form over narrative. The idea that story can often come second to the deeper physical experience and emotional reaction that’s created by using ALL the elements of filmmaking and not just The Story, y’know? Whether that’s editing, shot composition, colour, the sound mix, the actors, how it should all be used to heighten the emotional state the script wants you to feel. And so, I think for a few years now this approach has been influencing the types of films I really, really love.

I think I love surreality and mind-bending magical realism in films specifically because the filmmakers have to use all those different tools to convey things that can be way too metaphysical for just... a script? I’m always chasing that physical response; if a movie can make me stop thinking “I wonder what it was like to set up that shot” and instead overwhelm that suspension of disbelief, if I can be terrified or woozy or crying for whatever reason, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s why I watch so many fuckin movies, and why I’ll always remember nights like seeing IT (2017) for giving me another favourite.

Thank you again for this question, I didn’t mean to go so overboard. Also there’s no way to do a readmore on tumblr mobile so apologies to anyone’s dashboard 😬

[itsmarjudgelove]

Press photo for Zatoichi The Outlaw (座頭市牢破り), 1967, directed by Satsuo Yamamoto (山本薩夫) and starring Shintaro Katsu (勝新太郎).

[kinasin]

Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)

[chernobog13]

Ah, Japan doing the Taisho Period (100 years ago).  And there’s nothing better to do on a sunny afternoon than pick flowers.

What the heck?  Is that Zatoichi lying in the field?

No, it’s Shinkai, everyone’s favorite gozaku bozu (wicked priest) with heart of gold!  Although, given how much actor Tomisaburo Wakayama looks like his younger brother, Zatoichi actor Shintaro Katsu, (especially when he tosses his head back to laugh), the mistaken identity is perfectly understandable.

When last we saw Shinkai at the end of Wicked Priest he was leaving Tokyo to wander the countryside.  I guess at this point he decided to take a nap and do a little sunbathing.

Uh oh!  A bunch of yakuza are attacking a man and young boy.  It doesn’t look like Shinkai’s getting back to his nap anytime soon.

Yep, here comes Shinkai leaping into action, just in time for the opening credits!

Shinkai is sporting the look he will have for the remainder of the series: a mendicant monk’s traveling clothes, the nasty scar over his left eye (sustained in the climatic fight with Ryotatsu in the last film), and a sword concealed inside his staff.

Carrying swords (or weapons of any kind) in public had been outlawed with The Sword Abolishment Edict, issued by the Meiji government in 1876.  This edict was principally aimed at the samurai who, until that time, had actually been required to wear their swords at all times when outdoors.

To avoid being arrested, some people (like Shinkai here) carried weapons hidden inside ordinary items (canes, staves, umbrellas, etc) that they might use everyday.  Shinkai is obviously carrying the sword for protection on the road.  However, one might very easily make the argument that this was just to make the Wicked Priest films more similar to the immensely popular Zatoichi series, and that Shinkai was Tomisaburo Wakayama’s version of brother Shintaro Katsu’s Zatoichi.

As if to illustrate that point, this opening sequence extremely similar to the opening of many of the Zatoichi films.  The stories of the Wicked Priest films mirror the Zatoich films as well, so that it seems like all the producers did was steal some Zatoichi scripts, change the character names and time period, and start filming.

And with that we’re leaping straight into Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder (1968)!

[redsamuraiii]

Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)

“You carry a cane sword and always keep your senses alert. Do you ever relax and fall into a deep sleep, even for a moment? In short, a sword doesn’t give you peace.” “Please don’t say anymore. Each person is born with it-how should I put it? A karma of his own or something like that. I’m afraid I’ve lost sense of what is mine.”

Zatoichi met an odd Ronin in the village who does not possess a sword to defend himself, as his experience as a Samurai taught him that a sword does not solve anything but brings more grief and bloodshed. His peaceful way of doing things attracted the peasants into having an honest life without gambling.

However, the local Boss, sees this new way of life as a threat to his crippling gambling business that has always been relied on the peasants for money, food and land as collaterals, and so send his men to attack the peasants and push them to the point of despair and desperation to turn back to gambling. 

Two peasants were attacked by bandits, killing one of the peasants before Zatoichi steps in to help and kill the bandits, who were forced by their boss to attack. The sister of the dead bandit happened to be nearby when she saw her brother died and accused Zatoichi of being a murderer.

Zatoichi met the odd Ronin once again for a heart to heart talk as Zatoichi began to respect and admire him for being an honorable Samurai that the peasants looked up to in times of hardship but still could not accept his preaching of not carrying a sword as Zatoichi leads a different life than him.

It’s a very interesting story, exploring the grey world, where killing doesn’t necessarily solve a problem but not carrying a sword doesn’t necessarily means you can save others from bloodshed. The hard thing is to decide when to use your sword and when not to, when it comes to life and death situations.

As much as I pity the lady for losing her brother who was forced to attack the peasants, I felt sad for Zatoichi being accused of being a murderer when he was trying to protect the peasants and carried the guilt of not being able to save the other peasant and the guilt of killing someone who was being forced to kill.

[ozu-teapot]

Zatoichi the Outlaw | Satsuo Yamamoto | 1967

[horrorjapan]

are you into samurai westerns/the chanbara genre at all? if so, you got any recommendations?

Yeah, I love Chanbara. It’s hard to give recommendations as the level of quality is so high generally.Check out all samurai / war films by Kurosawa. So Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Ran, Kagemusha, The Hidden Fortress.Those by Hideo Gosha, especially: Three Outlaw Samurai, Sword of the Beast and Goyokin.

Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, The Sword of Doom.All the Zatoichi movies, Lone Wolf and Cub, Lady Snowblood.

[katsushin]

Zatoichi’s best quote. He said this in many chapters

Become a man of good conscience, with nothing to hide under heavens

- Zatoichi The Outlaw

[movietitleinferno]

Zatoichi the Outlaw - 1967

[visionsoflight]

Zatoichi the Outlaw

・ ・ ・

Director: Satsuo Yamamoto

Director of Photography: Kazuo Miyagawa