Legend of the Eight Samurai (1983)
Directed by: Kinji Fukasaku
Written by: Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Kamata
Starring: Etsuko Shihomi, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Hiroyuki Sanada, Minori Terada
AKA SATOMI HAKKEN-DEN
JAPAN
AVAILABLE ON LIMITED EDITION [2000 copies]: NOW, from EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT
RUNNING TIME: 136 mins
REVIEWED BY: Dr Lenera
The Satomi Clan have been all-but wiped out by their mortal enemies: the Hikita Clan, who are led by the sorceress Tamazusa and her son Yonosuke. The last Satomi survivor is Princess Shizu. After her father and aide are killed, she’s left to wander on her own. She encounters lustful farmer-turned-soldier Shinbei Masashi before being rescued from both him and her pursuers by samurai D?setsu Tadatomo, who tells her the legend of a curse on her family, and of eight beads that identify eight dog-warriors who can lift it, of which he and his brother Daikaku are two. To defeat Tamazusa they must find all eight. But Shinbei hears of Princess Shizu’s identity, and vows to collect the reward for capturing her….
Elements of the above paragraph, and certainly the film if [or should I say when, as I do heartedly recommend it] you buy and watch it, might seem somewhat similar. A short while ago, Eureka Entertainment released Kinji Fukasaku’s eccentric space opera Message From Space, which was an adaptation of Toshio Kamata’s novel “Shin Satomi Hakkenden”, itself an adaptation of Kyokutei Bakin’s huge-in-length “Nanso Satomi Hakkenden”, though relocating the setting from late medieval Japan to a future Earth, other planets and outer space. Well, five years later Fukasaku made this, which was a second version of this tale, even featuring two of the same actors Sonny Chiba and Hiroyuki Sanada [now bumped up from small supporting player to main male star], but relocating it so its proper setting though changing a considerable amount. And it’s a case of second tine lucky, because, while Message From Space was considerable fun in its own right, Legend Of The 8 Samurai certainly betters it. This Japanese sword and sorcery romp is a highly satisfying experience, certainly not blanded down by its western influences, but generally very involving in-between the fights, the magic and the just plain weirdness, while Fukasaku maintains a consistent pace where action comes in at regular intervals. I’m glad I mentioned Star Wars earlier though, because it was clearly an influence here [whereas it wasn’t really in Message From Space despite it obviously having been made to cash in on it], and that includes The Empire Strikes Back, with perhaps the most iconic line from the whole franchise being given a variation here as one character receives a sudden shock as to his parentage. This should, of course, just increase one’s sheer enjoyment of the picture. as should a Raiders Of The Lost Ark giant boulder.
A typically ’80s English-language pop song, White Light by John O’Banion, plays over shots of bubble-like things which actually turn out to be freeze frames of a special effects bit much later on in the film. Then we get a nice shot – so nice that it’s repeated later – of an army on the left hand side of the screen and the sun obviously setting on the right hand side which consists of mountains and clouds adorned with some red, with a ledge in the middle; the compositing here is very good indeed. A man and a woman come riding in to the encampment; these are villainess Tamazusa and her just as evil son Yonosuke. They’re shown “the heads of Shigeyoshi Satomi and family “ , but “the most important head is missing”, that of Princess Shizu, who can’t be found and has escaped. Tamazusa cries “We’ve finally returned you, lord Mokofuji, to the castle where you were born and raised a hundred years ago “ as she touches the side of a mountain whichs open to reveal a cave, steps and a sort of throne room where she kneels before a sort of sculpture of giant pieces of grass with a wall of demons behind it, and offers the deity a bowl full of blood. “We have wiped out the Satomi clan and we will capture her soon”, she promises. We cut to the Princess with her father and a female aide called Kohagi, headed for Musashi where her uncle live, though she wants vengeance. Shizu isn’t immediately presented as the nicest of princesses, suggesting that Kohagi wear light clothing like her as a decoy. Enemy riders show up, and the old man rather amusingly shoves Kohagi aside to be captured before dying a brave death protecting Shizu who gets away. Kohagi is captured and, in quite a horrific bit even though we don’t see every detail, has a part of her face sliced off by Motofuji who lost most of his visage in a fire but has “used skin stripped from noble princesses” to fix things. However, Kohagi’s blood isn’t accepted because she’s not Shizu.
Now we meet Shinbei, a real arrogant sort, being rude to the inhabitants of a village he’s just returned to, though pausing a bit when he learns that his adoptive father has died while he was away. He finds Shizu in hiding and at first thinks she’s a boy [it’s not just Chinese films that have this kind of situation even when in reality it would be impossible for anyone to mistake the girl for a boy]. He gives her some food, she flees and he catches up. Is he trying to rape her when he realises her gender? We certainly hear what seems to be the sound of ripping. She’s saved by the Inuyama brothers Dosetsu and Daikaku who’ve been looking for her, and the former has a scroll drawn by his grandfather that completes the set-up that we’re given a bit of earlier. Tamazusa keeps young by bathing in a bath of blood a ala Elisabeth Bathory, and one hundred years ago her and Sadakane Hikita’s castle was burned down and most of her clan killed by the Yoshizune clan, but this was because they were starving the poor. Tamazusa uttered a curse and escaped, and Lord Yoshizune said to his dog Yatsufusa as a joke that if he killed her he’d give to him Princess Fume as a bride, but “Yatsufusa was no ordinary dog” and supposedly killed Tamazusa, so the marriage happened, but many couldn’t accept this [I can’t think why] so they shot at the dog and hit the princess, whereupon orbs emitted from her, who in the future will be “dog warriors” [though none of them act doglike] and will conquer the baddies in one hundred years time. Dosetsu, who’s actually dying, says he was born with an orb, but who are the others? Meanwhile Shinbei discovers Shizu’s identity and decides to capture her for money.
The Eight need to be found, and seeing the way that major characters are introduced, we know who most of them will be, though there’s one genuine surprise, a butcher of women and children who changes because, as he says “the flute this man played awakened my mind”, though to be fair said magic flute really does do some great stuff. We don’t lose track of meeting all these new people because everybody is immediately very clearly defined, though some take considerable prominence over the others. Making an especially strong impression is Keno Inusaka, who very quickly makes us Quentin Tarantino fans wonder if she was as much an inspiration for Oren Ishii as Lady Snowblood, Lusted after by Yumasuke, she kills a magistrate who’s the groom at a wedding, then the bride states that she’s in love with her adoptive brother anyway and wants to run away with him. Said adoptive brother Shino also beomes a major character, but for some reason spends the whole film covered in androgynous makeup. Kamata adapted his own book along with Fukusaku for the screenplay, and it does sometimes rely on shit just happening to move things forward. Fight sequences sometimes seem to come out the blue, but they don’t seem intrusive because we’re continually invested. The Hakkenden have very stereotypical attributes, but they also represent different facets of Confucianism; Loyalty, Filial Piety, Righteousness, Respect, Wisdom, Brotherhood, Faith and Benevolence. Of course the primary focus is on Shinbei, who’s conflicted between good and evil. Can he be redeemed by the love which Shinbei develops for him, even when their sex acene is backed by another slice of O’Banion cheese rock and cuts to statue heads with glowing bindis? And do we mind that Sanada constantly has his thighs on display?
The villains not only consist of a mother who has incestuous desires on her son and said son, Mari Natsuki also getting s blood-bathing rejuvenation scene, but also an elderly witch who wants to eat people’s eyes and even turns into a giant centipede-like creature in one highlight, or maybe the creature is a separate identity; I wasn’t sure. One intense scene of a more realistic kind has two small boys being terrorised and killed. The baddies turn captive women into magic temptresses with poisonous breath, but they only go into action near the end and are pretty ineffectual. Despite this disappointment, the fighting, which tends to be evenly spaced out and is almost entirely with weapons especially swords, is good and employs great wirework. Many of the cast get to go up against each other, the best perhaps saved for last when Sanada really shows his agility as he and Shizu go up against Tamazusa and Yonosuke. Of course the final twenty minutes of action have some urgency because we know that people we like will get killed. The most artistic encounter must be when one character, his love accidently struck dead by a sword meant for him, slays all the soldiers surrounding him while white blossoms are blown into the air and fill the screen. Indeed cinematographer Seizo Sengen gives us a lot of well composed shots and shows off Tsutomu Imamura’s impressive set design to its best advantage; the villain’s lair is especially striking. Another impressive cave set is only seen for a few minutes; I hope it was reused. Tight editing doesn’t quite make an almost motionless giant flying rubber snake look convincing but youll have seen far worse from the time, and the special effects are mostly fine, the glowing beads looking especially good. The cast share good chemistry despite a typically exuberant Chiba trying to steal most of the scenes that he’s in and some characters being very underwritten; we hardly get to know his brother at all.
One has to just chuckle at the way the romantic finale contradicts both the Confucianism aspects and what has been predestined. Yet by then it almost seems the right way for things to end. I had an absolute ball with Legend Of The Eight Samurai, a film that kids would probably love if it wasn’t more the more macabre and brutal elements, or maybe tough ones would love it because of them – though there’s less blood than is usual for this kind of film. Despite some messiness in the writing, this fantasy really pleases in a lot of other departments and deserves to be more popular.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited Edition (2000 copies)
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Chris Malbon
1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a brand new 4K restoration
This film has a lot of shots where bright colour in set against dark backgrounds, and this is extremely well served by the Blu-Ray format. Even the opticals aren’t really harmed by high definition. I can’t fault this restoration. Hues pop out, blacks are deep, grain is evenly managed, detail is plentiful. Of course there’s a slight softness in the picture, but that’s as it should be. Fantastic.
Original Japanese stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
Alternate English dubbed audio track
I listened to a few passages of this and it’s not a particularly good option.
Optional English subtitles
New audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom
This is the first commentary from Hickinbottom that I’ve heard, and, with only two lengthy pauses which he warns about, he does a good job going back and forth between facts, scene-specific chat and the plot; perhaps he didn’t need to keep returning to the latter and describe what was happening on the screen, but it takes up little time. He tells us about the original source – “Shin Satomi Hakkenden” having been written over almost three decades and its nine parts then published over the same amount of time – and the alterations made – Kamata initially adapted his book for the screen himself and the film differs a lot, such as making the group more diverse from being just Samurai and changing the ,master of tactical genius Keno into a female Ninja-like assassin. Hickinbottom also covers the career of a director he brilliantly describes as having ”a dogged commitment to ‘challenging the terms of his country’s commercial cinema while working almost exclusively within it” and even explains why he thinks O’Banion was used in favour of Hiroko Yakushimaru, who not just played Shizu but was a popular local singer at the time.
Always Looking for the New – New interview with Kinji Fukasaku’s son, filmmaker Kenta Fukasaku [25 mins]
It’s nice that Kenta is often around to discuss his father, even to the point of remembering things, and hear we get some lovely reminisces. Here, while we’ve already heard the lead-up and background to this movie from Hickinbottom, it’s interesting to learn that Fukusaku and producer Haruki Kadokawa made Legend Of The Eight Samurai as a reaction to their Message From Space having been poorly received, and that in the book[s] Shino was the main protagonisr. Kenta talks a lot about the filming when he was ten years old, and recalls being taken for a horse ride by Chiba, as well as saying how Fukusaku and Sengen often rowed because the former liked to do lots of retakes while the latter preferred to do one and then move on.
The Trials of the Eight Samurai – New video essay by film historian and critic Stuart Galbraith IV [15 mins]
Galbraith, who wrote the first book about Tokasatsu films [Godzilla!] that I ever bought, gives us some more background, especially in regard to the state of Japanese cinema at the time, with the studio system collapsing and more large-scale co-productions being made. He also sees a distinct Kabuki and No theatre influence on Legend Of The Eight Samurai, and tells us that Hiroko Yakushimaru [Shizu] had to repeat her last year at college because she’d missed so many lessons due to filming – and it was a tough shoot with 15-hour days. She eventually collapsed. He possibly underrates the film a bit – or am I just saying that because I enjoyed it so much?
Japanese trailer [2 mins]
A limited collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Tom Mes, co-founder of Midnight Eye (2000 copies)
Fukusaku has made a lot of films which are better than “Legend Of The Eight Samurai”, but are there many that are as fun? I think I’ll be watching this one again soon. Eureka present the film in a typically fine way, in particular leaving the buyer with a great amount of knowledge about it. Highly Recommended!
Be the first to comment