Miyamoto Musashi, 1:
Zen and Sword (1961)

Uchida Tomu

Japan

110 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2006 Branislav L. Slantchev

Another adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji's superb Musashi about the legendary eponymous swordsman. The story is certainly worth telling and re-telling although one may doubt the wisdom of re-making a film after Inagaki's superb Samurai Trilogy starring Mifune Toshiro as Musashi. In fact, I very much doubted that it could be improved upon and despite all its nice features, this film does fall short of that worthy goal.

Matahachi remembers Otsu	Ogin and Otsu in mourning

This is not to say that it is a bad adaptation, it just takes a while to digest Nakamura Kinnosuke as Mifune's replacement. Although he matches the latter in intensity, Nakamura simply does not have the screen presence to pull off the more thoughtful aspects of the character. Still, this is not much of a problem in this first installment, mostly because all Takezo does is run around, yell, kill lots of people, and then get himself dangled from a tree for the trouble. As such, there isn't a lot of room to portray anything beyond lung capacity, which Nakamura does with relish.

So what's with the little bell?	The tough life of the outlaw woman Oko

In this episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi (Kimura Isao) manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi (Oka Satomi) who makes her living with her mother Oko (Kogure Michiyo) by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.

Musashi's first of many unequal battles	Takezo is a wild beast

While this little idyll is developing, back in the village of Miyamoto Matahachi's fiancee Otsu (Irie Wakaba) is wondering just what has become of her hubby. In this she is not helped much by the old Osugi (Chieko Naniwa) who blames Takezo for luring away her son and ruining the reputation of their illustrious farming family mostly by denying it its heir. (This part is not well developed because we are not given the background story which does show Takezo doing precisely that, but we can still surmise as much.) Given these strong feelings back home, it is little wonder that Takezo decides to return there when Matahachi elopes with Oko and her daughter.

Otsu receive's Oko's poison letter	Buddhism is stronger than it looks

The homecoming is bitter (plain bitter, not bitter-sweet). Just getting back to the village is fraught with danger because the victorious Tokugawa have thrown up checkpoints to catch Sekigahara stragglers, of which Takezo eminently is one. Still, he is determined to deliver the good news of Matahachi's failure to get himself killed. It all goes to pieces when an ambitious but ruthless local samurai Tanzaemon (Hanazawa Tokubei) presses the farmers into service to capture Takezo. In the ensuing manhunt, the fugitive is forced to kill many people, which does not exactly endear him to the hapless villagers.

Takuan and Otsu hunting for Takezo	A man's heart longs for company

When the killing gets out of hand, priest Takuan (Mikuni Rentaro) decides to intervene and help capture the "beast," and quite possibly save his soul in the process of saving his head. The wild Takezo surrenders to the Buddhist only to find himself on the receiving end of some tough Buddhist love as he is strung up and hanged from a tree where he can contemplate the meaning of life, which apparently has something to do with valuing life. Unable to bear the sight of the poor man dangling without being able to go to the toilet, Otsu frees him and they both escape.

Granny blackmails Otsu into submission	Takezo taught unorthodox lesson to cherish life

The transformation of Takezo has therefore begun, as has the development of love in Otsu for him. We are shown Takezo beginning to lust for life but without any comprehension what it means to have a worthy existence. Takuan, having recognized the urge, takes him to a castle and locks him up in the attic where Takezo will have to read and contemplate his future. The ghosts of his fallen family (this I don't recall from the novel, by the way, was Takezo really from a samurai family?) appear and implore him to make their existence meaningful by choosing such a worthy life. In the meantime, Otsu is waiting for him to fulfill his promise to come for her, even if it takes a thousand days.

A hundred days, or a thousand... I will return for you	The demanding spirits of the ancestors

The film is competently executed and has some really stunning images (e.g., when Otsu and Takezo part on the mountain top). The painted backgrounds work remarkably well, and the widescreen composition is used with skill to emphasize the man's insignificance in the grand scheme of things. There are very few close-ups, probably for precisely this purpose. Nakamura does his job well, and even though Irie and Oka are both nice, they simply cannot compare to the leading ladies in Inagaki's version. Strangely though, Otsu is portrayed in much the same way here: very frail, very lovable, and very determined. Akemi, on the other hand, looks a lot more innocent here than she did in Inagaki's film (which actually is more consistent with the novel). Of the female characters, Granny Osugi is by far the most memorable.

Otsu's long waiting for Takezo has begun	Takezo on the road to becoming Musashi

I have a bootleg DVD with a copy of the Toei R2 release with non-removable English subtitles. It is presented in letterboxed 16:9 and looks remarkably well all things considering. There is a warm color cast although I am not sure that it wasn't done on purpose (Inagaki's film also had it). The Japanese monoaural soundtrack is quite clean, which is nice because Ifukube's music is awesome. There is even a photo gallery: piracy in style.

April 8, 2006