Tagged with jidaigeki films

Review: 13 Assassins, 2011, dir. Takashi Miike

Review: 13 Assassins, 2011, dir. Takashi Miike

13 Assassins falls into a category of films woefully burdened by an inescapable family resemblance that dogs their existence on one level or another. In the case of the latest offering from Japanese shock filmmaker, Takashi Miike, anyone who’s heard of Kurosawa can trace the film’s lineage back to 1954, the release year of the … Continue reading

Review: Zatoichi, 2003, dir. Takeshi Kitano

Review: Zatoichi, 2003, dir. Takeshi Kitano

To describe Japan’s Takeshi Kitano (or Beat Takesi) as anything other than “versatile” is outright unthinkable. While frequently known and celebrated for his forays into crime dramas with a series of films involving cops and yakuza to his credit– Brother, Sonatine, Hana-bi, Violent Cop— Kitano has displayed an unwillingness to be pigeonholed as a participant … Continue reading