With its light touch, this is the most enjoyable samurai film that I have seen in years. It is a deft and slightly daft story of a valuable sword stolen by a by an enigmatic but unstoppable swordsman. The unready son of the rightful owner is forced to chase down an enemy whose fighting skills are far superior to his own.

The film features beautiful photography and almost no blood. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10

In 1616 Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu personally gave a gift of a sword to one of his loyal retainers. Eighty years later that sword is the treasure of one of the Japanese clans. But circumstances cause an untried young samurai, Rannosuke Kazamatsuri, entrusted with guarding the sword to instead steal it and run off with it.

The clan's chief official persuades his son Heishiro Inukai (played by Mitsuru Fukikoshi) to chase down Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei) and get the sword back. But Kazamatsuri proves to be an unstoppable swordsman and has he his own plan for the great sword. Inukai is not much of a world-beater and is a little terrified of his assignment. That is the bad news. The good news is that Kazamatsuri is very reserved and generally fights only those who try to stop him in his mission. The bad news is nobody but Kazamatsuri seems to survive those encounters.

Hiroyuki Nakano directs and co-authored the script, giving it a quirky touch of comedy. One of his approaches is a sort of irreverent sense for when to mix in whimsical anachronism. For example, a peasant plays a nice rendition of "Swanee River" on a wood saw. A trio of friends is called the Three Stooges.

But the film centers on the enigmatic Kazamatsuri. Tomoyasu Hotei is tall and thin and quiet, reminiscent of a MAGNIFICENT-SEVEN-vintage James Coburn. In the cliched way of samurai film he seems nearly defenseless and is instead formidable. Of course we have to have the requisite scene with a bunch of who find that not respecting this stranger is a fatal mistake.

The film is shot in black-and-white with occasional color effects. Rather than showing any blood in the fights, when someone has been killed the screen is drenched in red. But the only blood we ever see is from a nosebleed. The photography is done in a rich spectrum of black and white with scenes being very well composed. The style conjures of memories of Life Magazine photography. There are numerous nods to pop culture and the film is orchestrated to a mostly rock and jazz score.

The title of the film is "SF: Episode 1", implying that it is the beginning of a series, but seven years after the film was made there is no sign of a sequel. That is a pity since this was for me the most pleasant and enjoyable samurai film that I have seen since SANJURO. I rate it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10.

Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2005 Mark R. Leeper