By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Gorô Inagaki | Koji Yakusho | Masachika Ichimura | Takayuki Yamada | Yusuke Iseya
Original language title: Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Country: japan, united_kingdom
Year: 2011
Running time: 126
IMDB: Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yûsuke Iseya, Gorô Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura
Thom says: “As is probably well known, I am a colossal Takashi Miike fan. I’ve almost certainly seen more (feature) films by Miike than any other director, so I had to see this presentation. What most surprised my brother and I was the wrap-around-the-block line waiting to be admitted. Admittedly, the SFIFF has been doing boffo business for years, but to completely sell-out the elegant, huge Castro Theatre is no mean feat. 13 ASSASSINS is an adaptation of the 1963 Japanese feature Jûsan-nin no shikaku by Eiichi Kudo although Miike has made it much more of an epic confrontation. Near the end of the feudal system in Japan (late 18th century) a group of samurai band together to assassinate the vile Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira who is the nephew of the current shogun. He has laid to waste a portion of the country that dispute his authority, raping, pillaging, and wiping out entire villages along his treacherous route. Samurais are expected to remain loyal to their Lord under any circumstances so these twelve samurai are committed to fighting to the death to achieve their rebellious role. Along their path to destiny they add a 13th member to the band when they run across a wayfarer in the forest who is quite an enigma. There are so many things that are right about this action extravaganza it’s hard to know where to start. The sound on the film is remarkable, exceptionally well-done, even noticeably so. Often good sound comes as second nature but few get this mass of sound as impressive as this film does. To heighten the disgust we feel for the sociopath Lord Naritsugu Miike chooses to show us the butchered bodies of young children. (Unfortunately for me I coincidentally watched the excruciatingly disgusting film THE DEVIL COMES ON HORSEBACK the following day, a documentary that shows us the very scary recent genocide in Darfur, a region of the Sudan). As in most films of this genre our heroes face insurmountable odds as in the end it’s the 13 against some 7,000 soldiers fighting on the side of the evil Lord. This film is, as I recall, the first pure samurai film by the prolific Miike and he conquers the genre with skill and accessibility. He’s long been considered one of the very best action directors alive and here he comes through brilliantly with some of the best action sequences ever filmed. A noticeable absence of women also stand out in the film. I believe this Miike film is deservedly getting some distribution in this country. 5 cats
“Seen at the San Francisco International Film Festival, May 1, 2011”
Jason says: “Director Takashi Miike’s career has often been defined by the bizarre; even his recent run of PG-rated blockbusters for the whole family have frequently been weird. Watching his last movie to make a little noise in North America (SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO), I was struck by how the strange elements masked a guy who could deliver some excellent straight-up action and adventure, and found myself wondering if his skill would be appreciated as much as his vision if he played it straight for once. 13 Assassins answers that question with a resounding ‘yes’, although it’s still got its odd moments, especially in its original Japanese cut.
“Lord Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki) is a monster, the sociopath half-brother of a shogun who rapes, kills, and mutilates as he pleases, and to make matters worse, he’s about to be appointed to the council. After a retainer uses his hara-kiri to deliver attention to this problem, samurai lord Doi (Mikijiro Hira) is given a vague directive to make the problem go away. To this end, Sir Doi retains Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho), a righteous samurai who has had little reason to spill blood in this time of peace. Shimada, knowing that Naritsugu has an army at his disposal – commanded, naturally, by Shimada’s old classmate Habei (Masachika Ichimura) – gathers a force of his own: There will be a dozen of them, from old friends to ronin swordsman Hirayama (Tsuyoshi Ihara) to Shimada’s untested nephew Shinrouko (Takayuki Yamada), with the number climbing to thirteen when Koyata (Yusuke Iseya), the lowly bandit who guides them through the woods, opts to join their party.
“It all builds, of course, to a spectacular final confrontation, where the 13 would-be assassins must confront not the fifty soldiers they were expecting, but over two hundred, and while the righteousness of their cause doesn’t count for much, the ability to choose and prepare the battlefield will prove crucial. That makes for an amazingly balanced battle, even if it does give Koyata reason to actually state a variation of the Inverse Ninja Rule out loud (‘you samurai are useless, and even more useless in great numbers!’). Still, it’s the kind of set piece whose individual pieces could each be the climax of an impressive movie, effortlessly moving between large-scale action with surprises around every corner and one-on-one sword fights, with plenty of room to sneak character bits in.
“There are other action scenes on the way, too, but Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan are mostly content to build until then, letting the audience get to know the large cast of characters. Not all particularly well, of course – some wind up being used more for comic banter, while another is basically the explosives expert – but they are sketched out just well enough not to blur together, and the main characters absolutely make themselves memorable.
“Shinzaeomon is, in his way, especially fascinating. He’s the hero of the piece, assembling his team, coming up with a plan, displaying great leadership, patience, and calm; he ultimately fights both his old comrade and alpha villain Naritsugu, even delivering a righteous lecture on how the nobility must respect the common people as he does it. And yet, he is in his way, just as frightening as Naritsugu – when confronted with a particularly gruesome example of the lord’s excesses, his reaction is not rage, but satisfaction that he will actually be given the chance to use his sword to draw blood. Koji Yakusho delivers a chillingly rueful laugh there, and throughout the rest of the movie, he’s able to show us in very impressive fashion how, even though Shinzaemon Shimada is a good man worthy of respect and friendship, he does enjoy this work a little too much.
“The rest of the cast is very good as well. Goro Inagaki is quite a fantastic villain as Naritsugu, the perfect example of someone whose murderous appetites have never been countered before. Inagaki doesn’t chew scenery or overdo the ‘banality of evil’ routine; he just presents us with a guy who enjoys his vices, though his starting to to escalate for the same thrill. His utter delight as he encounters real danger and war is different from Shinzaemon’s, a kid with a wonderful new toy who doesn’t understand the consequences. Ikki Sawamura, on the other hand, is the action-hero samurai; he gets a lot of the great action set pieces, which he excels at, but plays Mitsuhashi as less eager for battle – the guy who won’t start of fight but will certainly finish it. Takayuki Yamada is the new kid, a little nervous to prove that all his practice has practical application, but trained right, with a likable confidence. There’s also Yusuke Iseya as the bandit Koyata, who provides a lot of the comic relief as the eager tag-along, but manages to stay just behind the line that would mark him as a buffoon not to be taken seriously when the big fight scene starts.
“Iseya’s Koyata also figures in a lot of the footage that was cut for release outside of Japan, which is fairly evenly split between connective tissue that explains some bits a little better and comic relief that doesn’t translate well. Indeed, a sequence about the mayor offering the town’s women up to the samurai seems fairly wrong-headed, considering some of the reasons why it’s been decided Nartsugu must die. Miike and Tengan seem to be making a point here, at least until it turns into crass comedy. It doesn’t work, and the shame of it is that popular character Shinnosuke Abe’s entertaining turn as the mayor more or less winds up on the cutting room floor in the international cut. A slapstick bit cut makes a later bit work better, although its tone feels wrong at the time.
“Overall, there is about seventeen minutes difference between the two cuts, but the international version isn’t notably inferior; the hiccups it introduces are more than countered by the relatively distasteful moments that got cut. Both versions are thrilling old-school samurai action extravaganzas – really, there’s a good chance that the finale is the best action scene to hit American screens this year – which are ass-kicking even for those with high expectations. 4 3/4 cats
“Seen 22 May 2011 in Landmark Kendall Square #6 (first-run); Seen 2 July 2011 at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater (New York Asian Film Festival 2011) (Director’s Cut)”