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The
Sword Of Doom__
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After watching Sword of Doom for the
first time I actually double-checked
that I hadn't missed some of it and
re-watched it. The reason for this
is the bizarre freeze frame ending
which should have been the cue for
Part II and the grand finale part
III
But sadly director Kihachi Okamoto
passed away and we will unlikely see
where the movie ends.
In
fact the story has been around for
many years and was featured in a Japanese
newspaper for over three decades gaining
a niche following amongst the genre
lovers.
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So
to the story and well the title says so much
and our main character the anti-hero Ryunosuke
Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai) does in every sense
reek doom with his sword. The movie is set
in the troubled time when the Tokugaw Shogunate
(1603 - 1868) is facing collapse and the old
order is about to be turned upside down in
favor of a more modernistic and western approach,
a topic that the Japanese love to watch, read,
hear and talk about. Rightfully so given the
impact it had on the country and it's people,
One Japanese Scholar was recently asked, "What
effect did the restoration period have on
Japan", to which he replied, "We
are still finding out". Ok back to the
movie and the plot, well it follows the sword
master Ryunosuke and the plight of misery
he descends on the world through the cold
of his steel. The movie opens with an old
man and his granddaughter traveling through
an mountain pass to reach Kyoto, whilst the
girl is away fetching water Ryunosuke appears
and slays the old man for no apparent reason,
we then see Ryunosuke talking with his dying
father and he is being asked to loose his
match with Bunnojo Utsuki (Ichirô Nakaya)
who we find out studied the same sword style
(ono ha itto ryu) as Ryunosuke but Bunnojo
is no match for are main character and his
unorthodox sword style Mumyo otonashi no kame
( form without light or sound). On the eve
of the match Bunnojo's wife Hama (Michiyo
Aratama) visits Ryunosuke and pleads for him
to save her husband's honor and the reputation
of his school and let Bunnojo win. Ryunosuke
does no such thing and deals easily with his
opponent in what becomes a duel as Bunnojo
found out the Ryunosuke got a little to familiar
with his wife on her visit to him. |
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It
is this period and a few others that leave
the viewer questioning why these two are
fighting in the first place and why after
the victory Ryunosuke leaves his dying father
and town, to sell his sword skills to help
quash the imperialists. All through this
we try to find explanations into Ryunosuke's
blatant regard for human life and his total
lack of emotion to all incidents.
Slowly
and slowly the clever screenwriter tries
to introduce various characters and sub
plots into the movie, one of them being
the legendry Toshiro Mifune who plays the
sword school master Toranosuke Shimada.
The movie brings these two heavy weights
together very significantly when Ryunosuke
is walking past Shimada's dojo and hears
a strong Doh, he enters the dojo asking
to challenge and learn from Shimada. But
first Ryunosuke must have a match with Shimada's
top student Hyoma Utsugi (Yuzo Kayama) who
is Bunnojo's brother. This match is very
interesting as it allows Shimada to see
the style of Ryunosuke and he clearly knows
this man is like no other.
It
was at this point where there are so many
questions running around the viewers head
and instead of answering them the just keep
coming.
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Does
Shimada get to fight Ryunosuke before Hyoma
and which one has the better sword style?
Well we never get to see them duel but during
a mistaken ambush Ryunosuke and a band of
swords man mistake Shimada for there victim,
Shimada cuts down each and every one of
them before Ryunosuke's eyes before walking
off and leaving our main character motionless
in reflection of what he has seen. If you're
a real analyst of movies like I am then
you will draw much from comments that are
made and the actions you see. The final
scene in this movie is bluntly violent and
a scary look into one mans collapse and
the madness he suffers. The fact that all
the plots and characters are kind of left
in limbo may make people hate this movie
and I must confess I was a touch angry when
it ended as it did, but after watching it
again and looking more into the movie as
a whole rather than looking for answers
I truly enjoyed this movie and it is right
on my top ten list, if there is any Japanese
actor that could challenge Toshiro Mifune
as Japan's best actor then Tatsuya Nakadai
could do just that, his performance in this
is just awesome and his poker face is very
It was penciled in that in the sequel Ryunosuke
went blind and changed sides in favor of
the emperor, Ohh a shame we could not have
been treated to the next two parts.
by
Paul Swainson
http://www.misogi.com.au
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Interview
with Student Ashley Scholefield
by Paul Swainson |
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Receiving
technique
by Ian Upstone |
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The
Ki of Aikido
by Charlie Badenhop |
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