[disc
one] Legendary filmmaker Takeshi Kitano directs and stars as Zatoichi
in this award-winning tribute to the wildly popular "blind swordsman"
cinema of Japan. In Kitano's version, blind masseur Zatoichi wanders into
a town where he is intrigued by two geishas obsessed with taking revenge
against the men who murdered their parents. Coincidentally, those men
are now the bosses of a vicious criminal gang, a gang involved in a turf
war against yet another group of yakuza outlaws. Zatoichi recognizes a
strong advantage in "pulling strings" behind the scene in an
attempt to help the geishas, clean up the town and make some money. His
mission leads him to a final, bloody confrontation against the gang's
hired assassin, a swordsman with a reputation as lethal as that of Zatoichi.
[disc two] The yakuza has an underground network, a "help-line"
for other noncompetitive gangs, throughout Japan. Murakawa (Kitano) is
sent by his Boss to assist the Okinawan Branch who is having some difficulties
in a territorial war. But when Murakawa arrives he finds a powder-keg
as the local citizens are becoming irritable over the recent gang violence.
In fact, Murakawa is almost killed in a scuffle. He thinks the "close
call" is caused by resentment against the Tokyo yakuza gang. But,
in reality, it's a "love letter" from his own Boss, intimidated
by Murakawa's skill.
Japanese
films; widescreen, uncut ( 94 min. & 116 min.) versions in DVD encoded
for REGION 1(USA) , playable on any American DVD machine; in Japanese
language with removable English or Spanish subtitles as an option; bonus
includes an interview with the director, prologue/epilogue by Quentin
Tarantino, behind-the scenes interview with crew.
Violence/Adult
Material:
Viewer discretion is advised.
··[ZATOICHI]
director:
Beat Takeshi Kitano
