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DVD Hisshiken torisashi
 Run time: 114 min Rating: 7.2 Genres: Action | History Director: Hideyuki Hirayama Writers: Shûhei Fujisawa, Hidehiro Ito Stars: Etsushi Toyokawa, Chizuru Ikewaki, Kôji Kikkawa |
| Storyline A talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzawmon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife’s niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi’s develops his unique “bird-catching” sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya. Written by Dr. Jay Trotter |
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| Plot Keywords: assassination plot, death of wife, devotion, jidai geki, samurai | |
| Details: Country: Japan Release Date: 10 July 2010 (Japan) |
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4 comments
Hisshi Ken Torisashi is an excellently crafted samurai movie that shows much of how samurai lived in their days.
A local lord of a small clan, Ukyoudayu (Jun Murakami) was taken by the charm of his first mistress Renko (Megumi Seki), and allowed her to perform unspeakable act of cruelty to the members of his clan. Sanzaemon (Etsushi Toyokawa) is a low level samurai working for Ukyoudayu, but hearing of the atrocities performed by Renko he decides to assassinate her.
After an afternoon dance show at the lord's castle, he approaches her and stabs her in the chest killing her. In this he's committed two cardinal sin that samurai should never do. One is to draw a sword within the castle ground, and the other of course is to use it against the lord's mistress. He surrenders himself, and expects to be beheaded, but the verdict unexpectedly for him, turns out to be house arrest for one year, and a reduction of salary. A mere slap in the hand compared to the crime he's committed. But like a true samurai he locks himself up in a storage shed, boards up the windows, and spends a year in self imposed imprisonment with only contact to the world being his deceased wife's niece Rio (Chizuru Ikewaki) who brings him food.
After the year is up, Sanzaemon now a free man, is permitted to serve the lord again. Two years later, he is called by the elder of the clan Minbu Tsuda (Ittoku Kishibe), and is told that he's been promoted to the rank of his lord's head personal attendant, and his salary would be increased back to its former amount. Baffled, he asks Minbu why he would be promoted to such a position. Minbu's answers that the lord has regretted his past behavior. He's heard about the stoic ways Sanzaemon has performed his house arrest, and is pleased with his act. Lord believes that such material should not be wasted, and decided to use him in a more important role. In this conversation, Minbu asks Sanzaemon that he's heard Sanzaemon is a master swordsman, and his style has a secret tact called "Torizashi". Sanzaemon explains that when a man uses "Torizashi" it is when he is near dead.
Meanwhile, lord Ukyodayu's corrupt ways of running his clan is causing havoc amongst the farmers in his fiefdom. His step brother Hayatonojyo Obiya (Koji Kikkawa) has been critical of the way the clan was mismanaged since the days of lady Renko. His anger towards the lord was mounting. Minbu had a plan to use Sanzaemon's swords skill against Obiya who is also known for his skills. Sanzaemon unaware, is trying to match make Rio with clan's younger samurai. Rio is divorced ( a situation very rare at the time, and carried certain amount of shame and guilt) but Sanzaemon wishes her to have a new start. Rio refuses, but Sanzaemon tells her "Woman's happiness is in marriage.", in reply, Rio answers "I've been married but was not happy. I wish to stay here and to serve you.". Rio was actually secretly in love with Sanzaemon.
One rainy day, Obiya storms into the castle alone. Sanzaemon sensing danger, tells the lord to flee, and he goes to face Obiya who is coming with his hands on the sword. Minbu's plot to use Sanzaemon against Obiya and put the blame of his death on Sanzaemon claiming he went insane and killed Obiya (thus saving clan's face from admitting internal strife had happened), is about to hatch – but with unexpected result for Minbu.
The title "Torizashi" comes from a move Sanzaemon used to catch a bird with long stick with sticky rice at its tip (traditional way birds were caught in Japan). You will see the connection at the end of the movie.
This movie is based on writer Shuhei Fujisawa's short novel which was part of his "Hidden Sword" series that includes "Kakushiken Onino Tsume", and "Bushi no ichibun" (both were made into recent movies), is an excellent samurai drama that shows the way of samurai (Bushido), and frequently corrupt politics of the clan. The sword fighting scenes are some of the best (as it is with the other two novels that were made into movies), and comes closest to the ones done in the golden age of samurai movies.
It's an explosive story with unexpected twist at every turn, and it is highly recommended for viewing..
One way to review this film would be to explain the plot and twists and story, but this movie is really about something different. Watch and see.
If you watch it all, you can get a feel of the Japanese samurai culture of discipline and their history of patience and obedience. You can sort of see how the fief system worked, and how the samurai dealt with their ruling clan, even when these rulers were dishonest.
The movie does a great job of slowly unfolding the samurai culture. You won't get it all unless you watch it all.
If you have the patience to watch it, you will be rewarded. I was.
My rating is 8 out of 10.
I just watched The sword of desperation and i am amazed at its quality. I purchased the film at La boite Noire in Montreal. New and in DVD format. Even so, the picture is so clear which is a bliss to watch. I almost thought it was a Blu-ray…The scenery and the costume are so beautiful and meticulously made…The kimono of the evil consort is so regal, it really made me think that she is wearing a painting (especially the one with the fall foliage)…The picture is as poetic as i always expected it in a quality Japanese film (the scene which a niece is doing the gardening, for example) The storyline is very intriguing and interesting.
There is only 2 things which i find less appealing. There is a lot of bloodshed at the sword fight and the niece is often washing the back of her uncle…is it a normal thing to do in a old traditional Japan? Anyway, these are only minor detail. As i said earlier, this film is a such a gem to watch and i recommend it to everybody who wants to experience a true masterpiece…i'll give it a 9/10.
When I decided to watch this movie I was expecting another brilliant colourful and authentic Asian history movie with some amazing fight scenes but it came out that this movies is quite odd and didn't meet my expectations. Let's talk about the storyline first.
A silent swordsman kills Lady Renko for no obvious reason in the beginning after a strange and quite long traditional celebration. Instead of getting condemned to death, he gets isolated for one year in a dark but still quite smart house in the emperor's garden. His niece is bringing him a reduced portion of supper every day.
The movie becomes then a little bit complicated because it switches from the present to the past all the time in a disturbing manner. The movies shows us how the emperor got under the influence of Lady Renko, his first concubine. She took brutal decisions in the place of her master. That lead to a conflict with Lord Obiya and the population as the easily-corrupted Lord Ukyou raised the taxes and wanted to do some work on an ancient temple.
Meanwhile, the niece Rio is creating a beautiful garden and takes care of her uncle. She gets devoted to him but he wants her to get away during the troubles surrounding the death of Lady Renko to find a husband. But Rio had already been married before and lived a very negative experience and she falls in love with her uncle.
Then, the movie suddenly gets really weird. Uncle and niece fall heavily in love. The uncle wants the niece to quit and promises her to meet her later. The niece has become pregnant. The uncle and silent swordsman Sanzaemon gets liberated and becomes strangely Lord Ukyou's bodyguard. But there is still a tension between them as Lord Ukyou doesn't want to see the face of the killer of his concubine and communicates with him through a curtain. Another person of Lord Ukyou's kingdom suddenly learns that Sanzeamon is a skilled swordsman and is able to use the famous "Sword of desperation" strike. Sanzaemon gets used to protect Lord Ukyou from the angry Lord Obiya.
Then comes the most interesting part of the movie, the sword fight scene between Sanzaemon and Obiya which the legendary swordsman wins. But suddenly, he is accused to have gone mad and killed Lord Obiya without permission and out of the blue. Lord Ukyou wants to get rid of him and orders to kill him to finally avenge the life of his beloved concubine Lady Renko. Sanzaemon fights like a maniac against an army of bodyguards but is slowly getting more and more hurt until a bodyguard seems to kill him with an unexpected attack in the back. He is declared dead but then suddenly rises up one last time and uses his "Sword of desperation" to kill the traitor, one of the lord's councils before he really dies. Meanwhile, Rio is waiting for her uncle in the village and doesn't know anything about his death yet in the end.
Now, let's talk about the positive points. First of all, this movie shows us some really beautiful and artistically images of the fight scenes, cultural events or simply landscapes. The director had a perfect eye for every single detail. Another good point is the two fight scenes in the ending of the movie. Especially the second one shows in a very intense way the slow and painful battle that Sanzaemon can only lose. It is a very positive point that he is not shown as a brilliant fighter but as a despaired man that is trying to survive at all costs.
On the other side, the movie already starts really slow paced and demands a lot of patience. Beautiful images and silent characters are accepted but if all characters almost seem to work that way, than I must list this as a lack of this movie. The main character is well conceived without a doubt. There is a sort of mystery surrounding him but the other characters are rather ordinary and one doesn't really care about their fates. I didn't get at all into this movie by its characters but only by its beautiful images and the fight scenes in the last thirty minutes. What is really disturbing the flow and the pleasure to watch this flick are all the time changes between the past and the present. In the beginning, when this element is used for the first two times, two men are talking about the event in a bar in the present and this context is understandable but suddenly the two men disappear and the time changes continue. In the beginning I didn't get a sense into the whole story. It is very difficult to understand why Sanzaemon killed, how he is punished and why he is finally avenged as those behaviours don't seem quite logically to a neutral watcher. The relationship between uncle and niece is only credibly played from the devoted niece's point of view while (the only time that a second actor is convincing and doing a very good job) while the behaviour of her uncle seems unreal and emotionless and at the other hand too crazy and pervert for such a silent man. I am sure that the director or writer of the screenplay worked all of this out in a very detailed way but to me those events seem to be a little bit random if not some plot holes. The movie would have needed a few more explications and a more emotional acting to transmit the message credibly.
All in all, this movie is interesting for those that like Asian culture, the cinema as a photographic art and slow paced dramas. Those who expect a great history flick, a martial arts movie or simply an intense story about vengeance and forbidden love will soon be disappointed. You really must be patient and attentive while you watch this movie.