The hidden blade 2004 đánh giá năm 2024

Best known in Japan for his 48 Tora-san films about a wandering peddler who is forever falling inlove, Yamada has scripted or directed several other successful series for theShochiku studio -- and single-handedly saved it from the financial brink.

Two years ago Yamada released his first samurai drama -- The Twilight Samurai. Based on threenovellas by Shuhei Fujisawa, this portrait of a low-ranking samurai who wasboth a devoted family man and death-dealing swordsman swept the JapaneseAcademy Awards and was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Yamada's follow-up, TheHidden Blade, is not only based on two short stories by Fujisawa, but has astory strikingly similar to The TwilightSamurai's. Another series in the offing' Don't bet on it but The Hidden Blade, now on release inJapan, looks likely to equal or better TheTwilight Samurai's $11.4m local gross. Internationally, the film shouldinterest the audiences who boosted Twilightto modest success but its sameness will not be the box office advantage thatit is in Japan.

Once again the hero, Munezo Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase), isa low-ranking samurai who is a dab hand with a sword, having the learned thedeadly 'hidden blade' technique from his fencing teacher. And onceagain the hero falls in love with a woman, the chaste-but-lovely family servantKie (Takako Matsu), whom he considers untouchable because of the classdifference between them. (The hero's platonic love in The Twilight Samurai was from a higher-ranking samurai family.)

Yamada films this story in the same subdued and realistic,if emotionally charged, style his used in Twilight.The sword duels look sweaty, tiring and dangerous, while the clothes, houses and even the people's faces have alook of period-authentic poverty.

The Hidden Blade,however, is not a two-hour exercise in gloom and doom. Serious though he may,Yamada is first and foremost an entertainer, dedicated to giving the audiencewhat it wants.

What it gets first is a scene of two samurai friends, Munezoand Samon Shimada (Hidetaka Yoshioka), bidding a third, Yachiro Hazama(Yukiyoshi Ozawa), good-bye as he sails for Edo (today's Tokyo) to work fortheir clan and seek his fortune. The two stay-at-homes are not about to followhim. Samon is looking forward to his marriage to Munezo's younger sister Shino(Tomoko Tabata), while Munezo is living contentedly with Kie and his elderlymother.

Three years pass. Munezo's mother dies and Kie marries a sonof the Iseyas, prosperous oil sellers in town. Meanwhile, waves of politicalchange are surging through the country -- and Munezo's clan is not exempt. Hestarts to learn the foreign arts of war. The age of the sword and samurai isending.

Then Munezo learns that, far from the happy life he hadimagined for her, Kie has separated from her husband and is wasting away fromillness. He brings her home, where he slowly nurses her back to health.Meanwhile, her feelings toward him change from gratitude to something more.

Then Yachiro is discovered leading a plot against the clanleaders -- and is imprisoned instead of being allowed to honourably commitseppuku (ritual suicide) like the other plotters. Because of Munezo'srelationship to Yachiro, his loyalty is doubted by the clan's wily chiefretainer (Ken Ogata). How can he prove it'

Masatoshi Nagase's modest-but-proud Munezo is a brother toHiroyuki Sanada's Twilight Samurai.But while the martial-arts-trained Sanada impressed more with his sword skills,Nakata is more convincingly the pacifist-at-heart who turns to violence onlyout of extreme necessity - but knows how to use it. Also, now pushing forty andthe wild kid of his early films no longer, Nakata seems to mean it when he sayshe wants a quiet life with the woman he loves. Can he find it in a world gonemad' Yamada's answer is one a lot of viewers, samurai movie buffs or not, willwant to hear.

Screening at the 43rd New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, Sept. 25 at 6:00 pm.

Munezo Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase) is a low level samurai in mid-nineteenth century Japan. In the opening scene, he and his close friend Samon Shimada (Hidetaka Yoshioka) bid farewell to Yaichiro Hazama (Youkiyoshi Ozawa), a fellow samurai who has been posted to Edo. Back home, they talk about Samon's upcoming marriage to Munezo's sister Shino (Tomoko Tabata). For his part, Munezo holds a special place in his heart for Kie (Takako Matsu), the family maid who has been with them since she was sixteen. But now she is being married to a merchant.

Three years later, the samurai warrior sees Kie in a shop and notices that she is much paler and thinner. She apologizes for not attending his mother's memorial service and promises to come clean his house for him. Change is in the air: the clan leaders have decided that there is much that can be learned from the West about improving their military. An instructor from Edo who looks down his nose at "the stupid back-country samurai" is clumsily trying to teach them how use guns and cannons in place of swords. When Munezo's uncle arrives for a visit, he criticizes him for abandoning the ancient samurai tradition and mimicking the barbarians of the West. He also criticizes Munezo for still being a bachelor.

Learning that Kie is very sick, Munezo goes to see her. He breaks all the rules of propriety by taking her off her bed and carrying her back to his place. Her recovery is aided by a visit from her younger sister who asks why she hasn't married the Master. Kie explains that would be impossible because of the rigid caste system. Pressure within the clan forces Munezo to order his maid to return to her own home.

The community is shocked when Yaichiro is returned to town in a humiliating prison basket. He has led a rebellion against the Shogunate. When the chief retainer, Shogen Hori (Ken Ogata), learns that the two men were the clan's best swordsmen and pupils of Master Toda (Min Tanaka), he questions Munezo and finds him to be uncooperative.

The Hidden Blade is a character driven samurai drama that doesn't place its major emphasis upon thrilling battle scenes. Yoji Yamada is more interested in the changes taking place within the life of the protagonist as he deals with one challenge after another. Munezo's father committed suicide years ago and this blemish has remained on the family's status in the community. Although he caves in to pressure at first, Munezo decides to follow his own conscience in the last stages of the drama. It is quite fascinating to see the nurturing side of this samurai warrior come to the fore as he breaks with tradition and expresses love and rebellion in a variety of surprising ways.