Into the Abyss - Kudo Eiichi's Eleven Samurai

The Eleven Samurai is one of the great samurai films. No question about it. Having watched it, I am amazed that I have never seen this appear on video tape in the U.S., much less on dvd until now. Other than a mention in the year by year film listings in Alain Silver's excellent book The Samurai Film, he does not include this of any other Kudo Eiichi film in his discussions. What gives? This is right up there with Gosha Hideo's Goyokin and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

It is the early 19th century in Japan. Nariatsu, a high ranking official and son of the former Shogun, is engaged in an animal hunt. In his reckless pursuit of the game, he crosses borders to a neighboring fief and kills a peasant who happens to be in his way. The lord of that fief also happens to be nearby, and witnessing the incident, calls him out on his ruthlessness. Nariastu kills him as well. This murder is covered up by the government, and blame is placed on the dead lord and his fief is slated for disbandment, to be incorporated by the shogun. The dead lord's samurai will not accept this fate. Reckless attempts are made against Nariastu, who frequents a local brothel. A semi organized attempt by a group of samurai is thwarted by the dead lord's chamberlain, who through a contrived sentencing of his own men to commit seppoku, is looking for recruits himself. Ten men and one woman are brought together, later, a ronin joins them, and they bide their time until the time to strike is ripe. Plots and counterplots are hatched by both sides, as all are trying to gain the upper hand of the situation. Nariatsu's chamberlain conceives a devious plan to transport Nariatsu back to his own fief using horses instead of the slower moving entourage; also, he works with the shogun's official to convince the dead lord's chamberlain that the shogun is favoring their side in the matter, and that Nariatsu is punished. All this does is halts a well planned ambush in the forest by the samurai. Once the chamberlain discovers that he was deceived, he mortally wounds himself, then rushes back to his men to tell them of the deception. Furious, they rush after Nariatsu in the pouring rain, attempting to cut them off at the river, which if they cross, Nariatsu would be safe. Nariatsu, in his final act of arrogance, refuses to cross in the downpour, electing to stay at a house nearby an let the storm pass. This gives the samurai enough time to reach them, cut the boats free from the shore, and attack the group. A furious battle ensues, and all are killed. Nariatsu is slain fleeing from a riverside shack, crying out to his men for help. The lone survivor is the ronin, who cuts Nariastu's head off and walks away.

This is a gritty, no nonsense film that is filled with tension and intrigue, climaxing in one of the great battle scenes in cinema, lasting almost 30 minutes. The actors are superb -- Natsuyagi Isao, Otomo Ryutaro, Satomi Kotaro, Nishimura Ko, Okawa Keiko, Sato Kei, Miyazono Junko, Nambara Koji are all familiar faces in 60's samurai cinema. Again, the black and white film adds greatly to the dreaded atmosphere of a corrupt world that is in its last dying days. Like in his other film, The Great Killing, Eiichi keeps a quick pace, a documentary like camera style, but Eleven Samurai goes further in the planning and build up of scenes -- first the botched assassination attempt in the brothel, and again in the forest. Not even Kurosawa could have bettered the handling of these very suspenseful moments. Eiichi is also clearly a master of the fight scene. The climactic fight near the river is well staged; the pouring rain, the men fighting in the mud, the amazingly graphic suicide of several of the avenging samurai stage by loading themselves with explosive powder, and throwing themselves into the fire, killing them and several other men. Again, Eiichi's films are a revelation, and hopefully these films will gain greater attention in the States. Go to your trusted internet store for Japanese films and buy this. It's a classic!

Rediscovered Classic - Kudo Eiichi's The Great Killing

A belated happy New Year! It's been a while, I know. It's not like I have stopped watching films, it's just that there haven't been ones that have compelled me to write about it in my blog. And, with very few exceptions, the current crop of Asian films (from my narrow point of view, renting and buying what has come out on dvd) hasn't been that great. I am annoyed by the current trend that certain Korean companies have done to the translations on the dvds. For instance, Secret Sunshine, a South Korean award winning film, has the worst English translations of all time -- instead of having someone translate, they used Babelfish instead. For those who don't know, click on the link. Japan hasn't put anything out lately that isn't anime or fantasy/sci fi/horror related, and even then it's not up to their usual standards. Hong Kong is still cranking out comedies and gangster dramas, and an action film once in a while, but with few exceptions (Fruit Chan, Johnny To, and Wong Kar Wai in particular) it isn't like it was before the Handover. Which leads me to this film, an oldie from the 1960's that had me riveted to the tube the moment I popped it into my dvd player.

The Great Killing is a story about a revolt against the Edo government for the increase of taxes on the farmers, which only favors the wealthy and powerful. Rumors of the imminent uprising reach the government, and orders go out to arrest all those suspected of being involved. Samurai, merchants, and even an official are arrested. One newlywed samurai, not involved in the plot, becomes involved when a friend staggers into his home and begs him for asylum. Unfortunately, he was followed, and chaos ensues as the soldiers chase and arrest the samurai, and the friend and the samurai's wife are killed. While under arrest, the samurai meets with the suspected official, who is being pressured to confess. But neither he nor any of the other suspects reveal anything, some going so far as to commit suicide. This puts pressure on the government, because of the lack of any evidence of a plot. Also, religious festivals are upcoming, and the arrested official also happens to be head of coordinating the ceremonies. It would be bad if these important traditions were canceled, so the man in charge of the government investigation has only five days to find the truth. The samurai and the official are released. The samurai meets up with a mysterious young woman who steers him away from instant vengeance to a house where her uncle is helping those to overthrow the government. Among the motley crew are a drunken gambler, and a man who is posing as a monk and hiding at the local monastery to avoid being arrested. The samurai and the young woman sleep together, as more of a promise to fight for a righteous cause rather than lovemaking. The monk, however is nuts. The desire for vengeance burns right through him, and he rapes the young woman when she comes to find him. This incident causes her to question her reasons and methods for fighting, and she tells the samurai that while she will no longer sacrifice or demean herself for her cause, she wants to do right in the world, and he understands. The group concocts a plan where in order for the revolt to be successful, the chancellor must die. To get him, they find that on the day he is to leave the castle, they set up natural roadblocks which direct his entourage through the local red light district, and there they will ambush the chancellor. The big day arrives, and the group heads out, but the monk strays behind, and tries to rape the woman again, but she fights him off this time, and infuriated, he strangles her and runs after the group. They buy horses from the local farmers, and the samurai rides them towards the entourage, blocking their exit, so they are forced into the district. A great battle ensues, and all of the rebels are killed. The chancellor thinks his side has won, but an official who sees the samurai's dead body and the broken sword in his hand decides to take up where he had left off, and kills the chancellor. The head official, realizing that his personal quest for more power is over, and that their current government is now on the verge of collapse, goes insane.

A samurai film of the highest order, The Great Killing combines sensibilities of many of the contemporary Japanese directors, Misumi, Gosha, Kurosawa, and Kobayashi, without emualting any of them. A few things stand out in this film: one is the documentary like camera work, as in the scene where the arrested men are awaiting their fate, and in the fantastic battle scene at the end, where the camera is so close to the action it actually bumps against some of the protagonists, and is spayed with blood and water. Another is the low point of view, which is similar to what one sees in Ozu's films, but the purpose here is more menacing and claustrophobic. Kudo Eiichi was a journeyman director who in the 50's did a few Hibari Misora films, and established connections as he started to rise through the ranks and got better material to work with. This film, 13 Assassins and the 11 Samurai are considered his masterworks, and went into television in the 70's. He is best known for directing the popular Sonny Chiba tv series Shadow Warriors. The Great Killing is an excellent genre film that does not fall into stereotypes, but depicts a world of unrest, populated by people who, good or bad, are facing the abyss. Highest recommendation!