Kill! (Kiru)
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Written by Kihachi Okamoto and Akira Murao from a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto
1968/Japan
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel
[box] Genta: [Repeated line] Samurai are no good. See what I mean?[/box]
Brilliantly choreographed action and Tatsuya Nakadai’s acting are the highlights of this somewhat confusing story.
Nakadai plays Genta, a former samurai who abandoned his position out of disillusionment with the life. He meets up with a farmer who longs to become a samurai. The two eventually team up to battle hordes of opponents set on them by a corrupt local official.
Both of Okamoto’s films from 1967, The Sword of Doom and Japan’s Longest Day, made my ten favorites list for that year, so I was eager to see this one. It did not reach those heights in my estimation, mostly because I couldn’t quite follow the multi-character plot. But, boy, that action! The protagonists and villains fight with swords, bow and arrow, and guns. That and Tatsuya Nakadai’s acting are enough to make this worth a watch. Fabulous score by Masaru Sato.
Trailer – no subtitles but you don’t really need them
