I found this whole film to have the technical skill of a 2011 youtube fight video, made by a small group of friends who just found out how to key out free green screen blood effects.
I mean, find me a 75 minute one take fight scene from 2011 RUclips and then sure. Or one even a quarter that length. The length is the point and what makes it unlike anything that it may superficially resemble.
You’ll notice how Tak uses the same moves throughout the movie. I feel like he was given instruction to do one of those moves depending on what the other person does. So in Oder to have a sense of choreography for the larger fights, each person would do a certain move and Tak would respond with the specific attack he was told to do in response by the director
It's interesting, while I was watching the movie I thought about the video game and the precariousness of the choreography, but just like you praising the hard work that goes into making a scene like that. There is effort, energy and all the desire to do something different from what has already been seen, it is an excellent film in many ways. Greetings from Chile
I felt Tak’s stamina was amazing. It’s an achievement for that alone. I’d have preferred more about musashi in general but the film wasn’t about that. The mature musashi at the end was best, imo.
17:16 that's actually pretty accurate to Musashi's attitude when he was younger. There wasn't anything mystical about swords to him, they were tools to be used
14:50 yes this felt more like watching a gameplay of an action video game rather than an actual movie (he lliterally finds health items, the water bamboo bottles and fights a boss every so often and repeats his movements and attacks) but i was cool with it. I knew this wasn't going to be a convencional movie, more on the experimental side. If this was a short film it'd very good. I think that the enemies attack at once because for the most part they are trying to have a one-on-one duel. Also it'd be really scary to actually fight someone that you've seen can kill a bunch of people. Also the thing about the 2 swords i think this moght be before Musashi started using his 2 sword style, maybe it's because of this event that he came up with it. The movie isn't perfect but it's really impressive that they managed to pull it off. And lastly, the last scene was amazing
This was the third or fourth time he actually used it. He'd been working on it for a while, and the duel that started the duel this is based on was it's first use
So pleased I found your channel by searching for a review of this film! I don’t really follow any film RUclips’s because I’ve found them all so annoying but your writing is brilliant and interesting and your delivery too. Am subbing and excited to watch some more of your reviews!
Well thank you very much! (Frankly, I don't watch any other RUclips reviewers either; for film-related things, I only watch video essayists like Folding Ideas and Lindsay Ellis whose stuff is fundamentally different than mine.)
So 2 things I noticed about this movie in term of choreography. There are stunt guys who you can tell are going to get hit in the head, they all have big hair covering their foreheads. I assume this was to disguise at least a small amount of padding. Also, towards the end I noticed that stunt guys wearing light brown robes were always pulled in to Tak. Often having their swords taken. It made me wonder if the fight choreographers used clothing in more examples to communicate moves to Tak
Thing is no matter where you stand on "taking turns in movies", this fight *actually* happened, he was not able to bottle neck them due to the terrain and he survived. There weren't any surviving witnesses besides him & he never gave a blow by blow. Ultimately, we don't know, but I'm pretty sure that with the sheer number going after *one* guy they HAD to take turns and just hope he was finally tired when their number came up. I just want to know what was so bad about the lives of anyone who challenged him to a duel after this...
the sword ditching actually makes more sense than you might think, because katana (samurai swords) really rely on the edge of the sword to cut, so once you've cut (in reality probably well less than ten ppl) even if you don't hit any bone, the blade becomes blunt with blood, and it wasn't uncommon for fights like this in a castle setting for ppl to use and ditch swords. also a sawa or scabbard would get in the way of his fighting. the stumbling off screen bugged me at first too but if you think about it, they probably don't die instantly as most modern movies depict fight scenes so in reality, it may have been a "get out once one is no longer in fit state to fight" situation, in which case they would get away as best they could, hence crawling or stumbling, or carried by mates as we also often saw.
It was! I thought the fact that I watched all three in the course of around 24 hours was an answer to that question, but I guess I could have been more explicit. (I actually was in an earlier draft.) I really enjoyed them! I don't think anyone has or will ever portray as many samurai as Toshiro Mifune, and there's a reason for it! The fights are awkward because there's no sound when people get cut and so it's kinda hard to tell what is supposed to have happened at times, but fights are such an insignificant part of the films that it ultimately didn't matter that much. Inagaki also has an unrelated film on Criterion starring Toshiro Mifune called "Samurai Saga," so when I was trying to find the Samurai Trilogy, I got a bit confused!
@@TheWeekIReview You're right, binging them is a sign... I liked how Inagaki gave all three films a distinct atmosphere. While the first one has the most "traditional" narrative, two and three feel a little more...not exactly experimental, but playful concerning the way to tell a jidai-geki. I don't know 'Samurai Saga' yet. I'll definitively have to check it out.
Was it really one take? I felt like the moments where they zoomed in on his face and then he quickly lunged to a side were moments when they cut between takes.
@@TheWeekIReview I think the first time they zoomed in on his face in the forest at the beginning of the movie and he lunged to the left was another one. That was about 25-40 minutes in (by memory).
It seems like not much information about behind of the scene has passed to oversea. This movie supposed to be a totally different film, call Ken-kichi. Tak was going to make a one single take action with just 10 mins. Although this movie has cancelled because director couldn't work for the film anymore. Tak still wanted to make a movie because he has been practicing a real samurai fright for an year with a his stunt team. All camera and staffs schedule has booked already, Tak has decided to make a movie with one long action movie. They didnt have a time to make a story line much. Yuji Shimomura directed only first part and last part. Why 77mins?? because to make a movie, have to be more than 70mins. I have to say that this movie isn't movie. Its a Tak's documentary. They didn't make an action design at all, just stunt guys(his stunt team) tried to kill him seriously - they has been trained in this way lol (except some guys got killed by belly who runs into Tak without any action). Even Tak said that real fight looks simple. Everybody has got used to watch "designed action movie" so most of people thinks this movie action is too simple. Tak has got injured during the movie, broken ribs, finger, teeth. Also Tak has to retired because he became PTSD from the movie. He threw up every time he hold a sword after the movie. I think if you know a behind of the movie, you feel different way to watch a movie.
I dug around for some behind the scenes stuff while working on this and found nothing. I can't even find record (in English) of Yuji Shimomura being involved in a movie called Ken-Kichi. Were there Japanese language interviews where they talked about all that?
@@TheWeekIReview I know, not much info in English. All information in Japanese, even from Tak's youtube channel ruclips.net/video/i00mfncBEYA/видео.html. No, Yuji Shimomura was involved just first drama part and last fighting part in the river side. So basically Tak was director of 77mins long battle part 9 years ago. here is a good interview >> ruclips.net/video/I5OGPtGQRsU/видео.html
Watch the film called "Swordsman". Now that's the best sword fighting you will see on film. The best part of the crazy samurai was the last couple of minutes of the last fight. And that looked like a totally different actor. Musashi is world's greatest swordsman to have ever lived though.
I really really enjoyed the movie, I agree with you, it's not perfect, but it's something that's amazing to watch. I hope there's some behind the scenes footage out there because I'd love to learn more about how it was made.
The movie is completely mesmerizing, forget all the people whining because the fighting isn't appalling Kill Bill quality and preposterous choreographies with no meaning at all... this film express incredibly well the anguish of fighting desperately against countless enemies, against fatigue and against the risk of dying... it's beautiful shot in aparent natural lightning, no ridiculous photograph filters, no showing off with stupid camera moves, just a guy surrounded and everythting set to understand what is happening and why... it's movie making at its best, all in its purest form, an art forgotten by people because of too many bad films made to impress kids with zero substance
I was hoping that the fight would be more exciting, however, after watching the same stunt men get killed over and over and over and come back to jump into the fight.... it kinda got a little boring.
Musashi was a 'real' samurai, as this was a class distinction, not just a profession. True he was not a retainer of a lord, and therefore a ronin, but regardless, he was an actual samurai. And btw, yes, Jesus really is a historical figure. We actually have more written contemporaneous, documentary evidence, including secular, for Jesus than we have for Musashi.
The first part of this is meaningless but whatever... but really, you're going to claim there's more contemporaneous evidence for Jesus than a man of whom there are actual paintings and also a bibliography? Lmao get over yourself.
So watched this and uumm..... I'm very disappointed, the choreography was simplified down to singular slashes and charge attacks that easily exposed the stomach for an attack and there's really not much there to speak of in terms of choreography in general - Tak either targets the head or the groin, occasionally he kicks people away in the most unglamorous fashion possible and sometimes there's boss fights that try to spice things up but fall to the same monotony, I want to preface this by saying: this movie was almost tailor made for me, literally have a premise in your movie that suggests NON-STOP(here quite literally) action for 77 minutes and I'm there for ya 100%. This somehow managed to fuck even that up, there's no story to speak of, Musashi's motivations for wanting to wipe out the Yoshioka clan is given no explanation, Sakaguchi barely even speaks in the film, tho when he does it occasionally breeds moments of comedy (Such as the part where he tries to count down how many people he has killed and honestly can't remember by that point :D ). The BEST part of the film is actually..... the part where the film exits out of the one-take gimmick and transitions to regular cinematography and editing, the choreography here SPIKES in quality: complex move sets, different weapons, stylish kills and visceral combat something that the rest of the film fails to match, and GUESS WHAT ? as soon as that sequence appears and shines a glimmer of hope into the rest of this boredom, IT ENDS ! it actually fucking ends on a one liner leading to the film's title and it just fucking nailed it in the coffin for me, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined, Tak deserves better !
@@npcimknot958 if you know fighting THIS IS FIGHTING... what you see in the movie is exactly Musashi style. Go and watch again stupid Kill Bill fightings
Jesus is really historical figure and He is God ..He is King of kings..and He is coming back and He will judge the world and I do not think that His coming is far away anymore..and now He coming As King and not just as He first came as a suffering servant to die for the sin of men..He will come as a ruler .I know this for sure because of Bible and because Holy Spirit live in my heart..
I found this whole film to have the technical skill of a 2011 youtube fight video, made by a small group of friends who just found out how to key out free green screen blood effects.
I mean, find me a 75 minute one take fight scene from 2011 RUclips and then sure. Or one even a quarter that length.
The length is the point and what makes it unlike anything that it may superficially resemble.
You try it.
@@TheWeekIReview Funny enough, this 75-minute one take sequence was shot in 2011.
You’ll notice how Tak uses the same moves throughout the movie. I feel like he was given instruction to do one of those moves depending on what the other person does. So in Oder to have a sense of choreography for the larger fights, each person would do a certain move and Tak would respond with the specific attack he was told to do in response by the director
It's interesting, while I was watching the movie I thought about the video game and the precariousness of the choreography, but just like you praising the hard work that goes into making a scene like that. There is effort, energy and all the desire to do something different from what has already been seen, it is an excellent film in many ways. Greetings from Chile
I felt Tak’s stamina was amazing. It’s an achievement for that alone. I’d have preferred more about musashi in general but the film wasn’t about that. The mature musashi at the end was best, imo.
17:16 that's actually pretty accurate to Musashi's attitude when he was younger. There wasn't anything mystical about swords to him, they were tools to be used
14:50 yes this felt more like watching a gameplay of an action video game rather than an actual movie (he lliterally finds health items, the water bamboo bottles and fights a boss every so often and repeats his movements and attacks) but i was cool with it. I knew this wasn't going to be a convencional movie, more on the experimental side. If this was a short film it'd very good.
I think that the enemies attack at once because for the most part they are trying to have a one-on-one duel. Also it'd be really scary to actually fight someone that you've seen can kill a bunch of people. Also the thing about the 2 swords i think this moght be before Musashi started using his 2 sword style, maybe it's because of this event that he came up with it.
The movie isn't perfect but it's really impressive that they managed to pull it off. And lastly, the last scene was amazing
This was the third or fourth time he actually used it. He'd been working on it for a while, and the duel that started the duel this is based on was it's first use
So pleased I found your channel by searching for a review of this film! I don’t really follow any film RUclips’s because I’ve found them all so annoying but your writing is brilliant and interesting and your delivery too. Am subbing and excited to watch some more of your reviews!
Well thank you very much!
(Frankly, I don't watch any other RUclips reviewers either; for film-related things, I only watch video essayists like Folding Ideas and Lindsay Ellis whose stuff is fundamentally different than mine.)
@@TheWeekIReview do you use letterboxd at all? Would love to follow what you’re watching
It's linked in the description
So 2 things I noticed about this movie in term of choreography. There are stunt guys who you can tell are going to get hit in the head, they all have big hair covering their foreheads. I assume this was to disguise at least a small amount of padding. Also, towards the end I noticed that stunt guys wearing light brown robes were always pulled in to Tak. Often having their swords taken. It made me wonder if the fight choreographers used clothing in more examples to communicate moves to Tak
How about Ogami Ito?
It's inappropriate for a samurai to attack from the back. Dishonorable that's why they go one at the time
I thought about that while watching the fight sequences, I agree with you
Thing is no matter where you stand on "taking turns in movies", this fight *actually* happened, he was not able to bottle neck them due to the terrain and he survived.
There weren't any surviving witnesses besides him & he never gave a blow by blow. Ultimately, we don't know, but I'm pretty sure that with the sheer number going after *one* guy they HAD to take turns and just hope he was finally tired when their number came up.
I just want to know what was so bad about the lives of anyone who challenged him to a duel after this...
“Is Jesus really a historical figure?” 😂 instant subscribe
the sword ditching actually makes more sense than you might think, because katana (samurai swords) really rely on the edge of the sword to cut, so once you've cut (in reality probably well less than ten ppl) even if you don't hit any bone, the blade becomes blunt with blood, and it wasn't uncommon for fights like this in a castle setting for ppl to use and ditch swords. also a sawa or scabbard would get in the way of his fighting. the stumbling off screen bugged me at first too but if you think about it, they probably don't die instantly as most modern movies depict fight scenes so in reality, it may have been a "get out once one is no longer in fit state to fight" situation, in which case they would get away as best they could, hence crawling or stumbling, or carried by mates as we also often saw.
saya* not sawa sorry
hey is war of pigs good? i remember you talking about it in one of your past videos.
I don't know what that is.
In case it was my last minute question in the stream that pointed out the trilogy to you: Glad to be of service.
In any case: How did you like them?
It was!
I thought the fact that I watched all three in the course of around 24 hours was an answer to that question, but I guess I could have been more explicit. (I actually was in an earlier draft.)
I really enjoyed them! I don't think anyone has or will ever portray as many samurai as Toshiro Mifune, and there's a reason for it!
The fights are awkward because there's no sound when people get cut and so it's kinda hard to tell what is supposed to have happened at times, but fights are such an insignificant part of the films that it ultimately didn't matter that much.
Inagaki also has an unrelated film on Criterion starring Toshiro Mifune called "Samurai Saga," so when I was trying to find the Samurai Trilogy, I got a bit confused!
@@TheWeekIReview You're right, binging them is a sign...
I liked how Inagaki gave all three films a distinct atmosphere. While the first one has the most "traditional" narrative, two and three feel a little more...not exactly experimental, but playful concerning the way to tell a jidai-geki.
I don't know 'Samurai Saga' yet. I'll definitively have to check it out.
I appreciate the use and the relaying of the historical context in your review
Thank you very much! I try.
Where can I watch this? Hope it comes on Amazon Prime for streaming.
Yeah, I'm definitely subscribed now. I also just bought this movie, I wanted to watch a review to get me pumped before I watch. Pretty stoked!
The colored bars moment made me a little sceptical. What was up with that?
Was it really one take? I felt like the moments where they zoomed in on his face and then he quickly lunged to a side were moments when they cut between takes.
There is one moment that feels like it might have been about halfway through, but if there's any, that's the only one.
@@TheWeekIReview I think the first time they zoomed in on his face in the forest at the beginning of the movie and he lunged to the left was another one. That was about 25-40 minutes in (by memory).
It seems like not much information about behind of the scene has passed to oversea. This movie supposed to be a totally different film, call Ken-kichi. Tak was going to make a one single take action with just 10 mins. Although this movie has cancelled because director couldn't work for the film anymore. Tak still wanted to make a movie because he has been practicing a real samurai fright for an year with a his stunt team. All camera and staffs schedule has booked already, Tak has decided to make a movie with one long action movie. They didnt have a time to make a story line much. Yuji Shimomura directed only first part and last part. Why 77mins?? because to make a movie, have to be more than 70mins.
I have to say that this movie isn't movie. Its a Tak's documentary. They didn't make an action design at all, just stunt guys(his stunt team) tried to kill him seriously - they has been trained in this way lol (except some guys got killed by belly who runs into Tak without any action). Even Tak said that real fight looks simple. Everybody has got used to watch "designed action movie" so most of people thinks this movie action is too simple. Tak has got injured during the movie, broken ribs, finger, teeth. Also Tak has to retired because he became PTSD from the movie. He threw up every time he hold a sword after the movie.
I think if you know a behind of the movie, you feel different way to watch a movie.
I dug around for some behind the scenes stuff while working on this and found nothing. I can't even find record (in English) of Yuji Shimomura being involved in a movie called Ken-Kichi. Were there Japanese language interviews where they talked about all that?
@@TheWeekIReview I know, not much info in English. All information in Japanese, even from Tak's youtube channel ruclips.net/video/i00mfncBEYA/видео.html. No, Yuji Shimomura was involved just first drama part and last fighting part in the river side. So basically Tak was director of 77mins long battle part 9 years ago. here is a good interview >> ruclips.net/video/I5OGPtGQRsU/видео.html
Watch the film called "Swordsman". Now that's the best sword fighting you will see on film. The best part of the crazy samurai was the last couple of minutes of the last fight. And that looked like a totally different actor. Musashi is world's greatest swordsman to have ever lived though.
I enjoy it for what they try to do
But I like hardcore henry Experimental approach to action movie better
My question did the real miyamoto kill realy 400 man.
I really really enjoyed the movie, I agree with you, it's not perfect, but it's something that's amazing to watch. I hope there's some behind the scenes footage out there because I'd love to learn more about how it was made.
I mean, they had all the stils that played over the credits. You'd think they'd have to have done some video as well.
The movie is completely mesmerizing, forget all the people whining because the fighting isn't appalling Kill Bill quality and preposterous choreographies with no meaning at all... this film express incredibly well the anguish of fighting desperately against countless enemies, against fatigue and against the risk of dying... it's beautiful shot in aparent natural lightning, no ridiculous photograph filters, no showing off with stupid camera moves, just a guy surrounded and everythting set to understand what is happening and why... it's movie making at its best, all in its purest form, an art forgotten by people because of too many bad films made to impress kids with zero substance
16:33 also cinematics AF, even when done properly...
Now I wanna watch this martial arts psycho-drama, my dude.
Film was embarrassingly awful, one of the worst of the year
The mature musashi was so badass that the rest of the movie pale in comparison
Thank you for the recommendation! I love this kind of movies. Great review. Big Thumbs up.
Well thank you!
just watched the video and the movie trailer...I have to see this film!💗These days I need this kind of catharsis!😬⚔
I was hoping that the fight would be more exciting, however, after watching the same stunt men get killed over and over and over and come back to jump into the fight.... it kinda got a little boring.
The best fight ever
Just watch and this movie is crazy from tehnical side...bravooo japan
Who are you?! Strange I will watch it
Musashi was a 'real' samurai, as this was a class distinction, not just a profession. True he was not a retainer of a lord, and therefore a ronin, but regardless, he was an actual samurai. And btw, yes, Jesus really is a historical figure. We actually have more written contemporaneous, documentary evidence, including secular, for Jesus than we have for Musashi.
The first part of this is meaningless but whatever... but really, you're going to claim there's more contemporaneous evidence for Jesus than a man of whom there are actual paintings and also a bibliography?
Lmao get over yourself.
So watched this and uumm..... I'm very disappointed, the choreography was simplified down to singular slashes and charge attacks that easily exposed the stomach for an attack and there's really not much there to speak of in terms of choreography in general - Tak either targets the head or the groin, occasionally he kicks people away in the most unglamorous fashion possible and sometimes there's boss fights that try to spice things up but fall to the same monotony, I want to preface this by saying: this movie was almost tailor made for me, literally have a premise in your movie that suggests NON-STOP(here quite literally) action for 77 minutes and I'm there for ya 100%. This somehow managed to fuck even that up, there's no story to speak of, Musashi's motivations for wanting to wipe out the Yoshioka clan is given no explanation, Sakaguchi barely even speaks in the film, tho when he does it occasionally breeds moments of comedy (Such as the part where he tries to count down how many people he has killed and honestly can't remember by that point :D ).
The BEST part of the film is actually..... the part where the film exits out of the one-take gimmick and transitions to regular cinematography and editing, the choreography here SPIKES in quality: complex move sets, different weapons, stylish kills and visceral combat something that the rest of the film fails to match, and GUESS WHAT ? as soon as that sequence appears and shines a glimmer of hope into the rest of this boredom, IT ENDS ! it actually fucking ends on a one liner leading to the film's title and it just fucking nailed it in the coffin for me, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined, Tak deserves better !
I assume by "this" you meant the film and not the video.
@@TheWeekIReview yes.
@@npcimknot958 exactly !
@@npcimknot958 if you know fighting THIS IS FIGHTING... what you see in the movie is exactly Musashi style. Go and watch again stupid Kill Bill fightings
Bad movie not worth to watch, its shame to watch
agree i like Tak Sakaguchi but this movie is bad even reborn is much better than this.
Jesus is really historical figure and He is God ..He is King of kings..and He is coming back and He will judge the world and I do not think that His coming is far away anymore..and now He coming As King and not just as He first came as a suffering servant to die for the sin of men..He will come as a ruler .I know this for sure because of Bible and because Holy Spirit live in my heart..
Sure, buddy.
@@TheWeekIReview Is more than sure,,and all the nation mourning when He come..