Assassinato

I love period pieces it is my favorite genre. Especially from WWI, WWII, Korea, Japan and China. This movie seemed like the perfect fit for my tastes. I was very wrong. I stopped this movie at 57 minutes and refused to watch anymore. I do understand what the director was trying to do on him not wanting to kill. However the execution failed miserably. The movie had beautiful scenery, the costumes and setting were perfect. The camera was terrible for any scenes with extensive movement. It was reminiscent of the zombie movie Rekill where I got vertigo trying to watch it. I personally think the critics got this very wrong. It's why I don't trust critics.

Tzuzuki is a Ronin, a masterless samurai living at the very end of the long period of peace through to the mid 19th Century which made such swordsmen surplus to Japanese society. He seems happy wandering, helping farmers in exchange for food, but trouble is stirring in Edo and he realises he must go there - it is unclear whether out of duty or hope for his own future. He seems to get lucky when a wandering master swordsman asks him to join him on a mission to help the Shogun against his enemies. This seems to set us up for a traditional clash between desire and duty, modernity and tradition, but the film takes a surprising turn when a few tough guy wanderers arrive in the village and Tzuzuki is hit with a fever, meaning he has to stay longer.

The film takes a strange turn when we realise that Tzuzuki is not just reluctant to leave his farmer friends, but is almost pathologically unable to translate his sword skills into the real job of killing men - even deserving men. The fever itself seems to encompass his whole world. Suddenly everything is not what it seems - not the master swordsman, not the sweet village girl who seems to love Tzuzuki, not the tough but seemingly good hearted wanderers.

This is a very modern take on the traditional Samurai genre. Plenty of previous Samurai movies examine the twisted ethos of the warrior class, but few examine so much how killing itself destroys the humanity of the swordsman. It is strikingly filmed and directed - normally I hate shaky-cam films, but its used effectively here to create a hallucinogenic atmosphere of confusion and chaos. The settings are very beautiful and effectively caught by the cinematography and the short running time of the film means that there is no flab at all - its a gripping, tight film, with its only flaw really that we never really get to understand the characters real motivations. Nevertheless, this is definitely one of the best modern samurai films I've seen in some time.

...absolutely correct running time to make the point on this film. Is about ambivalence. Is all in our minds; life is easier than what most of us think; however, depending on the role that we are playing, for any reason, most finishing thinking in Black and White forgetting the Grays. Plenty of times we are in the middle of a situation that is not what we wanted but we are obliged to play. Sometimes the good guys are not so good and the bad ones are just a product of the events. In the case here, all the trouble start due to a hot headed teenager; too green to understand situations; but is like when you move a piece on the Chess board.

-The camcorder takes are too shaky but contributes to the overall chaos of those shots. Very good music and scenery.

Mokunoshin lives more in his imagination than reality. He is a young samurai in feudal Japan who has not fought, much less killed anyone. Mokunoshin is helping villagers harvest rice, nursing a crush on Yu and sparring with her brother, when opportunity knocks. An experienced warrior is forming a fighting unit to raid the capital and tries to recruit Mokunoshin, who is doubtful he can leave Yu. Caught between his calling and his heart, Mokunoshin hesitates. The first kill is hardest, but doubt may prove tougher still.

Killing is a minimalist film that takes advantage of the beauty of natural light and simple sets and dialogue. It is a good antidote to all the CGI that seems to dominate film these days. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities to appreciate the primal pulse of drumbeats and rainfall, and splendor of fire, shining steel, drifting clouds and the mist filled and mysterious cedar forests of Japan. Even so, it is hard to tell what is going on in the action scenes when the camera moves so much. The film was shot in three weeks in the north of Japan according to the director who was at this 2018 Toronto International Film Festival screening.

A samurai drama about several people trying and continually failing to leave a small village for about 80 minutes.

It was interesting to see Shinya Tsukamoto's take on the samurai film, but I don't think it worked great overall. I could get used to the digital look of things, but I hated how often it would cut to a close-up from exactly the same angle- it looked cheap and jarring almost every time (they did the same thing less frequently in the new Top Gun, whenever they wanted a close-up of a pilot mid-flight; I hope it's not a thing that's considered acceptable editing nowadays).

Worth it for Tsukamoto completionists of course, and maybe for die hard samurai fans, as it's not awful, but otherwise it's a little hard to recommend.