Saya-zamurai is a strange movie. It is, strangely, at the same time its best quality and its biggest flaw.
The beginning almost lost me: we follow a pityful character - an old samurai, with no sword and almost decaying. He is followed by a child, plus burlesque assassins, introduced in a very-tarantinesque way, and with slash of blood copied from Kill Bill.
On top of that, one of the first scene with the child (fetching medicinal plant) is badly shot and looks horribly false.
I did however go on with the movie and was happy to do that.
With the next part and the challenge imposed on our main character - I won't say our hero!, the movie changed its tone and become a hell lot better.
Not perfect, there is a part of repetition that the director tries to mitigate but could'nt fully because of the setting of the story. There was maybe some funny scenes typically Japanese that I did not get.
But that part, a bit "Kikujiro"s Kitano" inspired, in its own way, deserves your viewing, until the end twist.
That tale of the redeeming of a shameful samurai and father manages to go over the comedy (visual comedy mainly) and reach a depth I wouldn't have believed only moments before.
Reflection on what is a show, it does not limit to that as it will get you emotionally involved as well.
In conclusion, this movie is full of weaknesses but still manage to propose very good parts if you let it a chance.
