Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Great Duel/The Grand Melee (1964)

Japanese Genre cinema started early with films full of anger at the world and humanity it seems. I wouldn't have expected to find something like this deeply pessimistic parable of the Japanese student movement in a film made before 1967 and I really know better than to expect a film this good.
But aesthetically minded viewer beware: The picture is visually very inventive, dynamic when it needs to be, but never beautiful. The violence is extremely visceral and messy; not nice to look at at all. So if you are watching samurai movies chiefly to see elegantly choreographed sword fights in colorful landscapes you should probably miss this. Or grow up.

Darling of the Day:
"There's no one in heaven, but on earth there's us."

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