"The Floating Castle" Screening at LA EigaFest

[waywardsage]

Recently, I attended a showing at the LA EigaFest of "The Floating Castle." Here's the Trailer:

Here's the Synopsis from the LAEigaFest website:

"Set in 1590, the powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Masachika Ichimura) seeks to unify all of Japan under his rule. One of the last holdouts is Oshi Castle – often referred to as the Floating Castle – that lies in an area surrounded by an enormous lake. Hideyoshi sends his right hand man, General Ishida (Yusuke Kamiji), and a troop of 20,000 soldiers to take the castle, which is defended by only 500 men. Control of the castle suddenly falls to Narita Nagachika (a bravura Mansai Nomura) when his father dies, and the clumsy child king fails to gather the support of any of the other samurai, save for his childhood friend Tanba (Koichi Sato). But Nagachika refuses to acquiesce to Hideyoshi’s army, and through a mix of self-deprecating humor and unconventional tactics, he is slowly able to connect with the people and fight alongside the hardened samurai who once doubted him. Half David-and-Goliath, against-all-odds jidaigeki and half broad slapstick comedy, Floating Castle manages to pay tribute to films like Seven Samurai (or even 300) while also being cheeky enough in its homage to have fun with its character archetypes. While the film packs in the action and laughs (especially from Nomura’s wild antics), there is also a rather stunning flood sequence that was the cause of a theatrical release delay for over 18 months. When viewed in light of the tragedy and horror of the events of 3/11, it makes for one of the most somber and powerful scenes in Japanese cinema this year."

Overall, I found the film to be an awesome romp! It was more of an action/comedy mix. The characters were larger than life and jumped off the screen. Each of the retainers had a unique personality that made them fun to watch and easy to recognize on screen. I'm not sure it will ever get a US release. A lot of the humor is VERY Japanese. Also, a lot of the plot lines require a bit of a cursory understanding of samurai warrior culture in order to understand many of the characters motivation. Seeing as most American audiences aren't that versed in the culture, it probably won't translate well.

If your a samurai film fan, I highly recommend it. You don't often get to see a large budget Sengoku period film these days, and "The Floating Castle" is a fun watch even if it's a bit of a slapstick comedy in parts.

Here's the link to the LAEigaFest site:

http://www.laeigafest.com/line-up/the-floating-castle/