ICHI

No book today, but I have a movie instead =) I went to see ICHI last night, which was screening as part of the 12th Japanese Film Festival in Sydney.


ICHI is about a blind young woman who was kicked out of her goze troupe because she had been with a man, and now searches for someone who fights like her. She encounters a samurai who can’t draw his sword called Fujihara Toma, and they become involved in a battle between a band of bandits led by an outcast samurai called Banki and a town called Bito.

The movie had some wonderful if slightly outdated cinematography; slow motion rotating movements with the camera went out of fashion a few years ago due to the glut of Matrix copycats. However, ICHI uses it to great effect, along with some good close ups. The story was well plotted out, with the revelations in the right places, but the montage of Ichi’s story was a little overlong. It seemed a little strange to have the two main characters involved in a town’s fight, since both seemed the type to head off and move on, especially Ichi. Toma got roped in mainly because of his greed, but stayed out of loyalty instead. I should say that for the title character, Ichi is a bit overshadowed by the other characters – Toma and Toraji were quite heavily focused on, and Banki stole most of the scenes he was in.

The main characters were very interesting people. Ichi has been bruised in both body and soul, and her blindness was portrayed well by Ayase Haruka. She brought the right amount of apathy and expression to someone who was blind and disillusioned. Toma is a bit of a good natured bumbler, but he has a tragic past that affects him deeply. I liked Osawa Takao. He projected the right kind of funny and passion suited to Toma. Nakamura Shidou was awesome as Banki – he had the right kind of mania and facial contortions – so different from some of his other roles. Kubozuka Yousuke as Toraji, son of the Shirokawa, was pretty cool. He was an interesting character, hotheaded and fiercely honourable.

The movie was unexpectedly funny at first, but these moments died down towards the middle. The audience found some narm in the lack of subtlety in the acting and the cinematography. Or maybe they didn’t quite understand the conventions of the samurai genre. In any case I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and was quite touched by the ending.