The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (Zoku Zatôichi monogatari)
Directed by Kazuo Mori
Written by Minoru Inuzuka; story by Kan Shimozawa
1962/Japan
Daiei Motion Picture Company
First viewing/Filmstruck
[box] “There’s none so blind as those who will not listen.” ― Neil Gaiman, American Gods[/box]
The filmmakers keep the standard high in the second of the “Blind Ichi” films.
This is truly a continuation of the story with many of the same characters reappearing. Ichi is wandering the land. The mild mannered masseuse cannot seem to help attracting the attention of every sword-happy samurai he meets. He dispatches about 20 of them in the first five minutes of the film. Then he is asked to massage a Lord. In doing so, he is privy to the secret that the noble is a half-wit and the retinue send out a couple of thugs to silence him. I do not need to tell you what happens to the thugs. The Lord’s retainers do not give up on doing away with Ichi and hire a local gang boss to slay him.
It is the one year anniversary of Ichi’s duel with the consumptive samurai from the first film and Ichi returns to the same setting to pay his respects to the only man he was able to call friend. The boss from the first film does not have fond memories of Ichi. Finally, he encounters women old and new who are attracted to his goodness and his own no-good brother.
This has way more action than the first film. I was less surprised by the story but equally entertained. You can see the entire series on Filmstruck but multiple complete versions are also currently available on YouTube.
Clip with extraneous soundtrack – would recommend muting!
