Zatoichi: The Last

Zatoichi: The Last (座頭市 THE LAST, Zatōichi Za Rasuto) is a 2010 samurai film directed by Junji Sakamoto and starring Shingo Katori in the role of Zatoichi.

Zatoichi: The Last
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJunji Sakamoto
Produced byChihiro Kameyama
Written byKikumi Yamagishi
Based on"Zatoichi Monogatari"
by Kan Shimozawa
StarringShingo Katori
Music byProject Wago
CinematographyNorimichi Kasamatsu
Edited byTomoko Hiruta
Production
company
Sedic International
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • May 29, 2010 (2010-05-29)
Running time
132 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

The films starts with young Ichi's wife (Satomi Ishihara) being accidentally killed by Toraji (Sosuke Takaoka), the cowardly art-loving son of a yakuza boss. Following her death, Zatoichi (Shingo Katori) returns to his hometown where he hopes to resume a normal life under the guise of farming with his friend Ryuji (Takashi Sorimachi). Unfortunately, the same group of yakuza plan to change Zatoichi's hometown into a harbor and begin exploiting local peasants for money. Ryuji's land deeds are taken and ransomed at a high price, so Zatoichi uses his gambling skills to win money for the deeds. This unveils his identity, so the yakuza burn down his house. The villagers draft a Tanran scroll to present to a passing official asking for assistance. Having Zatoichi in the village would not work in their favor, however, so the villagers devise a plan to dispose of him. They give him a blank scroll to "deliver" to the officials and lead him on a dangerous path into the yakuza. He eventually realizes it is the wrong path and makes it to the officials. The betrayal is revealed when he shows the blank scroll to the officials, who are insulted and subsequently leave. Zatoichi takes responsibility of getting rid of the yakuza onto himself, so he goes to the yakuza headquarters and kills the boss. In the end, he is shot by Toraji and stabbed by one of the yakuza minions. Crawling on hands and feet, he goes to the beach where he presumably dies and reunites with his wife in the next life.

Cast

Reception

Mark Schilling of The Japan Times criticized Zatoichi: The Last, noting that the film is "ultimately chanbara (sword-fighting) entertainment, similar to The Dark Knight and other Hollywood comic book movies that try for darkness and depth but still have CG action at their center."[1]

References
  1. Schilling, Mark (14 May 2010). "'Zatoichi: The Last'". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.