1965
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
Written by Yoshiyuki Fukuda
Starring Koji Takahashi
What can a Japanese director who isn't named Ozu or Kurosawa do when they start working in 1960? Those two directors, by then, had made it impossible to make serious moody drama or stylized action pieces--anything a young director released was going to suffer under comparison. So instead, why not embrace the limitations of genre, and take it to it's most extreme conclusion? Like David Fincher's Se7en, Samurai Spy is the sort of pot-boiler, by the numbers genre flick done to perfection. With a supremely incomprehensible plot, over-the-top performances from all actors (save the lead) and a decent bloodbath every twenty minutes, Samurai Spy is the sort of movie that people always imagine they'll end up watching at a late night marathon: sadly, they usually end up with something more tame. Ripping off every one of his shots from Hitchcock to Citizen Kane, Shinoda somehow was able to make the original Quentin Tarantino movie--a film that is so completely stolen that it feels innovative: unlike Quentin Tarantino, Samurai Spy never winks to the camera. This is ninjas, geisha's and ronins played straight, this is slow motion bridge battles with sincerity. This is Samurai Spy--and it deserves to be loved.
Comments