|
|
 |
 |
 |
Shogun's
Samurai - The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy __
 |
|
|
Kinji Fukasaku has an incredible array
of movies in his portfolio such as
the highly controversial Battle Royale
2001, Tora Tora Tora 1970, and Grave
Yard of Horror 1970's.
Shogun
Samurai - The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy
is certainly up there with his most
popular movies and it is no surprise.
At the time of production the Japanese
film industry was in a dire situation
and funding was extremely difficult
and Funkasaku's decision to make this
epic movie was brave and risky.
|
|
 |
|
|
The
cast is a who's who of top Japanese stars
including Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, Kinnosuke
Nakamura, Tetsuro Tamba and Hiroki Matsukata.
The movie is set in the 17th century and
the movie opens with the death of the second
Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada and the movie portrays
this as a death of suspicious circumstances.
A fierce family feud breaks out between
Hidetada's two son's Iemitsu (Hiroki Matsukata)
and Tadanaga (Teruhiko Saigo) over who should
take the mantle as the next Shogun, trouble
is that the emperor must by law swear-in
the next ruler and his sneaky court officials
are twisting the situation to see the two
brothers fight and thus readicate the rule
of the Shogun and return Japan to full control
of the emperor.
Iemitsu
is the legitimate heir but his disfigured
face and stutter count against him and almost
everyone favors his handsome, and popular
brother Tadanaga. One person who believes
that Iemitsu should take the title of Shogun
is the court instructor Lord Yagyu (Kinnosuke
Nakamura) and when Lord Yagyu informs Iemitsu
that it was in fact his followers who deliberately
killed the Shogun the plot really takes shape
and grips the viewer to the seat. The performance
of Nakamura is outstanding as Lord Yagyu and
he brings calm chaos to the movie with his
robotic theater acting, which some thought
was out of place with the other actors. I
certainly disagree and believe his role had
to portray significance and meaning and Nakamura
really steals the show here. |
 |
 |
|
|
Within
the fighting between the brothers we see
the introduction of Sonny Chiba as Lord
Yagyu's famous son Jubei, famous for his
patched eye and supreme sword skills. Sonny
Chiba is as popular an actor as you can
get and he does an excellent job in bringing
the rawness of Jubei to the screen, there
is a cracking scene when we see Lord Yagyu's
arch rival Tetsuro telling Lord Yagyu that
they will duel to the death to see who should
be court instructor, sensing something Tetsuro
slashes a wall at the same time as Jubei
does on the other side, both suffer injury
and realize that each other are expert swordsman.
That is just one big stand off in the movie
and really gives the movie that something
special.
|
|
 |
|
|
Toshiro
Mifune (Lord of Owari) plays a very solid
role as you would expect from someone of
his stature and although Mifune's role is
crucial it is all about Lord Yagyu and his
genius plot to bring about his choice ruler.
Keep an eye out for a very entertaining
performance from Jubei's rival the feminine
Ayamaro (Mikio Narita) who seems like he
knows nothing of swords and of killing.
In
summing up this movie I will firstly say
that it was top drawer and really entertaining,
the acting was fantastic and the story was
good. It must be remembered that this is
a conspiracy movie and well historians should
take it for what it is. In many ways it
reminded me of Chushingura but without the
grandness and splendor, that's not to say
it lacked visual clout but it was not in
the same league as the latter.
Still
worth anyone's time and I would highly recommend
this to any fan of period movies from Japan.
by
Paul Swainson
http://www.misogi.com.au
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Elated
White Pyjamas
by Tony Huges |
 |
|
Kampo
by Carmen Altomonte |
|
|
Kotodama
and Junon
by James Deacon |
|
 |
|
 |
|
