Zatoichi At The Fire Festival - Disappointing!

[Guest kungfusamurai]

I've owned the Animeigo Zatoichi DVDs for a couple of years now, but for some reason I haven't gotten into watching them until now. I figure I'd go in chronological order. I've already seen Outlaw, which I liked. And I already owned Meets Yojimbo on some old VHS from the 80s. Sadly, I felt unsatisfied watching that film.

I was pretty psyched sitting down to watch Fire Festival, especially after seeing Kenji Misumi's name in the credits as director. But the film turned out to be a real disappointment! First of all, the film as a whole seemed to be missing some kind of quality that made the Daiei era films so heartwarming and appealing. I can't quite put my finger on it. It just seemed like Fire Festival was a series of events set up for Zatoichi to fight out of. I was confused as to the nature of Nakadai Tatsuya's character and why he was so intent on killing Zatoichi. Even though they do shed some light on his background, the motivation for Nakadai's character wanting to kill Zatoichi wasn't believable.

Also, I didn't understand why the Yakuza overlord wanted Zatoichi dead. Sure, he wasn't a gambler and didn't pick on the common people the way the Yakuza did, but the Yakuza boss's lust for Zatoichi's head just didn't make sense.

As for the fight scenes, I thought they were alright. The bathhouse fight scene was the most confusing though, with the attack starting in the bath water, with the assumption that Zatoichi had killed those men, and then towards the end of the scene, after having left the bath and killed off a bunch of guys, he suddenly finds himself back in the bath?!! It didn't make sense.

The drama was pretty weak. I didn't buy how the Okiyo character went from planning on killing Zatoichi to really caring for him. The progression was just plain silly.

Overall, I'd recommend the film for Zatoichi completists. But if you're hoping for a film that captures the spirit of the 60's films, Fire Festival will probably leave you unsatisfied.

KFS

[Guest aliu321]

"Also, I didn't understand why the Yakuza overlord wanted Zatoichi dead. Sure, he wasn't a gambler and didn't pick on the common people the way the Yakuza did, but the Yakuza boss's lust for Zatoichi's head just didn't make sense."

If I remember correctly Zatoichi had crossed the Yakuza overlord on a previous occasion (which film I don't remember).

But the motivation was revenge for a previous wrong ... it would be apparent if one understood Zatoichi's history.

[Guest kungfusamurai]

What I liked about the earlier films is that you didn't need to know Zatoichi's previous movies to appreciate the current one you were watching. I thought my disappointment with Fire Festival was me idealizing the older films, so I dug out Samaritan, which was the last one done before the haitus, and its really well done from beginning to end. It didn't feel like a series of events strung together just for a final showdown ending. It works on many levels, which is lacking in Fire Festival.

KFS

[Guest kungfusamurai]

I got around to watching this one after having it for awhile. Overall, I thought the film was alright. Again, not up to the standards of the 1960's Daiei flicks, but worth owning. I felt the last 20 minutes went a little too fast, with stuff happening for the sake of happening so that the finale between Zatoichi and the One Armed Swordsman could take place.

I didn't like the One Armed Swordsman character. I'm no fan of Jimmy Wang Yu, which I've mentioned a number of times on the other boards, so that didn't help. I was hoping that the Japanese production would change that, but it didn't. It was irritating seeing his character leaping for long distances like Ang Lee's Hulk character, or up into high trees where he completely lost his pursuers. If this were a Lone Wolf & Cub flick, I wouldn't mind it, but the Zatoichi films are more grounded in reality in the sense that he doesn't fight supernatural beings or jump high in the air like Ogami Itto did. I didn't like the One Armed Swordsman's Sword either. I know it was from the Shaw films, but it looked like it was broken off. They really should have called him a one-armed dagger man, because that's what he was using. And that short little weapon would let him kill so many samurai? Come on!

I also found the communication barrier very annoying. It wasn't the fact that they didn't understand each other. It was the fact that they didn't use the young chinese boy, who could speak mandarin and japanese, to figure things out. The boy did do some translating, but he was not really being used to help sort things out. Heck, why didn't those women bring the boy to the fight area where they thought the two might be so he could stop them?

Unfortunately the finale really bothered me. I found Zatoichi, who was apparently trying to clear misunderstandings up throughout the film, behaving in a very aggressive manner and using more of an offensive fighting style than trying to protect himself from the angry One Armed Swordsman. I think it would have worked better if Zatoichi had dropped his sword on the ground as a symbolic gesture to show he meant no harm.

I'm kind of hoping the next Zatoichi flick in the series is better than the first three 1970s movies. I'll give my opinion on it in this thread.

KFS

[Guest killer meteor]

I thought Jimmy was good in that flick!

[Guest GwaiLoMoFo]

Hey KFS, I own a decent amount of Zatoichi's and find that I dont go outta my way to watch them either. All the ones Ive seen are all pretty good. But damn they do get repetitive after a while. Its been a while since one seemed "fresh" to me while watching it. Alot of re-hashed scenarios and same old conflicts (Ichi wanders into new villiage, meets/ helps somebody, goes to gambling house and pisses people off, fights corrupt Yakuza's, gives a massage, ect.....). Actually, I think the Zatoichi series works better as a TV series (for me anyway).

[Guest kungfusamurai]

But damn they do get repetitive after a while

Yeah, he always has the same schtick. There's also the compulsory scenes of him perfectly pouring sake or tea; playing dice; and a woman falls in love with him, and he has to run away at the end.

But even with the repetition, I think the 60s Zatoichi flicks just had a bit more charm and were much more engaging than the 70s ones I've seen so far. I watched the films in groups of 3 or 4 so I didn't get sick of them.

KFS

[Guest TheDenizen]

I've only viewed about 6 of the original Zatoichi movies, but The Festival of Fire was my favourite.

[Guest aliu321]

Unfortunately the finale really bothered me. ... I think it would have worked better if Zatoichi had dropped his sword on the ground as a symbolic gesture to show he meant no harm.

This is one of my favorite Zatoichis. But I think your ending is better.

I just wish the alternate Chinese ending made it into the DVD.

[Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

kfs,

I think part of what the disappointment with The Festival Of Fire may be attributed to, they'd already filmed about twenty Zatoichi movies, and they may have felt a new approach to the storytelling might (which is the poorest aspect of the film) give inspiration to this films outcome. At this point Shintaro must have felt the character's presence and the methods of filming his stories were becoming redundant. So they started experimenting with the continuity of the screenplay ( which Shintaro helped with). That's why it's so confusing, they just jump from one scene to another, without revealing enough storyline in each scene to allow the viewer to follow the story's intent. Hideo Gosha successfully displays this technique in his film, Goyokin to marvelous effect, ( as each scene unfolds the viewer is informed frame by frame resulting in the storyline being totally unpredictable, yet missing no details, not an easy thing to accomplish). The Festival Of Fire also has a sense of being rushed through, together with this experimental approach, they released a Zatoichi film with a storyline that was difficult to follow and unconvincing.

Regardless, the film still has some fine moments, but the fight between Tatsuya and Shintaro should've been a little more spectacular.

It's still a must have for a Zatoichi fan.