Goyokin

Saw Goyokin, another samurai movie. The previous buch that I've seen were all directed by the same guy (Eiichi Kudo) whereas this one was directed by Hideo Gosha, so it feels much different. It's more evocative, less about the heist and more about the characters, haunted as they are by their past. It opens on a woman returning to her village to find evidence of a struggle and that everyone has vanished. Crows are everywhere. It feels like a horror movie. It's very effective and interesting.

As the plot continues, we meet our grim-faced samurai hero and we meet up again with the woman from the opening sequence. There's a heist (of course) but this time our rag-tag team of heroes is trying to prevent the heist. This is an interesting inversion from the previous films where the heroes are usually overthrowing tyrannical rulers. This time they're upholding their honor and therefore the law. There's a scene near the end where one of the characters points out that the law they're upholding only really benefits the rich and powerful, throwing an interesting double-negative into the film. I'll have to keep an eye on the relationship between these lone-wolf samurais and their relationship towards authority. In America, authority is always suspicious and burdensome. In Japan, I suspect, that's not the case.

Anyway, the film is interesting. It is, after all, a samurai movie, so we get the endless sword fights and slow, dainty, cat-like posturing. And of course there's a scene where a big gang of guys runs at the hero, only to be cut down one by one. There's the standard boilerplate, but there's also glimmers of a more mysterious, more emotional film sublimated underneath. Not one of my favorites but worth a look, I suppose.