prabhunster In all honesty, the original reason I decided to watch this movie was the keywords, "Blind Swordsman." in the synopsis. I envisioned a film about epic sword fights and superhuman feats. This is one case where I was glad that I was wrong.Don't get me wrong, there are still enough (well-choreographed) fight scenes to entertain the average joe. But the fight scenes are by no means the bulk of the movie. I appreciated that the fight scenes were deliberate, that is, each specific fight was justified with reasoning behind it, whether it be a plot device to further the story or give some small insight to a character's past. There wasn't any fighting' for the sake of fighting'The wandering protagonist, Ichi, is a Goze (a blind woman who barely scrapes by, working as a wandering musician). Unbeknownst to most, she also happens to be a master swordsman of unknown origin. All we see is a laconic, emotionally repressed young lady who has found one singular purpose in life, a journey of sorts. Although she tries to avoid conflict with others, she also is willing to maim/kill anyone without hesitation or regret if they obstruct her path or pose a threat. She takes neither pride nor shame in killing, but she doesn't lack morality. It may just appear that way since her persona is buried so deep that she appears to be a hollow/soulless shell at times. Although undesired, she carries a certain allure about her which attracts attention.. A blind swordswoman with such exceptional skills is enough to make anyone curious/scared.Although the movie may sound very dark, the theme is well-balanced with an appropriate amount of humor. This is due to the introduction of a good-hearted, but overly confident man, Toma, who joins Ichi on her quest. Toma recognizes Ichi's amazing fighting skill and feels some sense of emasculation. He claims to be "quite the swordsman" himself but his demonstrated technique says otherwise, The characters play well off of each other, given their extremely polarized personalities. It allows for the occasional playful moment in an otherwise serious and dramatic movie,Throughout their journey, Ichi and Toma learn about each other, as well about themselves. The overriding themes of character development, self-realization, and overcoming one's inner demons are the true essence of the movie. That said, their journey has its ups and downs but due as a series of events unfolds, they quickly find their lives more and more in the balance, building to an amazing climax. Overall, I really liked the movie. It's common knowledge that this premise is not original, but the form it takes is what makes this movie special. At times, it's both easy and difficult to relate to Ichi, but once you hear her full story, you'll likely gain some perspective into this flawed but beautiful person. A rare, delicate flower which will eventually bloom into something amazingly breathtaking. And yet, this flower is also capable of death, unbeknownst to many. When a flower is at conflict with itself, what will happen when you approach it?

Derek Childs (totalovrdose) Beset by tragic circumstances, often instigated due to her unfathomable beauty, the cruel fates bestowed upon her poignantly explored over the course of the feature, Ichi (the enthralling Haruka Aysae), a goze (a blind performer, who serenades people with her vocal talents and shamisen playing capabilities), with uniquely outstanding sword fighting skills, provided by a master she longs to discover, is forced to wander alone, after been accused of nefarious activity that was not of her own doing.Set during an unidentified ancient period in Japanese history, the self-titled Ichi combines exceptional cinematography that wondrously captures the environments, while at the same time, the lavishly rich musical score heightens the beauty of the environments, and the poignancy of the horrible occurrences the leads are forced to endure. The bloody violence that accompanies the fight scenes is neither over the top, nor too little, and much like the rest of the feature, efficaciously encapsulates what can only be perceived as an accurately brutal portrayal of how cruel and barbaric, yet at the same time, vivid, life in this particular period could have been.Touma (Takao Osawa) is a swordsman on a pilgrimage, and though he is capable of pretentiously boasting about his capabilities, he finds himself unable to draw his sword, for reasons that are conveyed over the course of the plot. The decision to not automatically reveal the back-story of the two leads brilliantly makes both characters mysterious and enchanting, as we hang on their journeys, in the hopes of discovering more about them, the depth provided to their characters been exceptionally orchestrated. Upon venturing into Ichi's life, she is forced to defend him against members of the villainous Ban-ki gang, their deaths spurring a vendetta, cast by their fellow members.Led by the antagonistic Banki (Shido Nakamura), a once revered Samurai, past events left his face hideously scarred, though these afflictions are not nearly as grotesque as his mind, this man being turned into a lunatic warrior with a thirst for bloodshed, his violent origins having a direct link to Ichi, which is again further developed as the plot progresses. Accompanying Banki are a collection of equally violent men, one of whom being Izo (Riki Takeuchi), a fighter who proves to be almost as equally terrifying as his leader.On their journey, Ichi and Touma come upon a town run by the Shirikawa's, a family consisting of Chobee (Akira Emoto) and his son, Toraji (Yosuke Kubozzuka), both of whom are members of the Yakuza, their township been plagued by continuous raids from the wretched Ban-ki gang, the local governmental personnel been unwilling to provide support. With the help of Kotaro (Ryosuke Shima), a young boy, Ichi is able to explore the town, during which she punishes members of the Ban-ki gang, Touma taking the credit for this particular brand of justice, which causes the town to hire him as their protector, unknowing that he is in fact incapable of providing the assistance they require, as the advances by the enemy continue to rapidly escalate.As Ichi and Touma begin to spend more time together, a unanimous form of understanding and respect begins to grow between them, as the two traveling individuals discover they need each other for separate reasons. It ought to be noted, some of the sexual content in the film evolves around rape, and though I personally loathe films that use rape, or the threat of rape, as a form of entertainment, in the case of Ichi, this hideous act is used to not only realistically depict the horrors of the climate, but strengthens the sympathy we feel towards specific characters.Although I have not previously witnessed the Zatoichi films this particular feature carries on from, so am unable to offer a comparative analysis, Ichi is a moving film with an equal amount of heart, brutality, character, depth and action, which elegantly and continuously captures the attention of its audience with the use of adventurous direction and poetic beauty.

trcky1 I had totally forgotten about Zatoichi until I saw some of the other reviews. But there were no similarities btw the two films, and I don't think there were supposed to be either. So this film stands on its own merits (or lack thereof).Ichi starts off kind of weak, with some hokey dialogue. But the hokey dialogue does play off as somewhat endearing btw Toma, the insecure samurai trainee and Ichi, the cold and bleak musician. The story and the relationship btw Toma and Ichi are developed decently, so we are kept interested in the movie throughout. However, the film's pacing is rather clunky and some of the symbolic imagery and the profound dialogue isn't set up well and comes across rather forced. It's almost as if the director is making up for plot holes by inserting random bits of poetic images and dialogue that aren't set up well and don't make that much sense.The action is more or less decent, but the climactic fight scenes are too short and simplistic. All in all, it's not a great action film, not a great romance, and not a great drama, although it aspires to be all three. It's a film that's OK for killing time with, but I wouldn't set aside any part of your day with it.

dbborroughs Rethink, and perhaps continuation of the story of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. here the blind masseuse and gambler has been replaced by a blind woman who is a trained musician. As the film begins she is looking for a certain man. One can pretty much assume that she wants to kill him. While staying with a blind woman some toughs decide to rough up her host when they won't pay for her services. A wandering samurai named Toma tries to help, but its Ichi who kills the men. Following Ichi Toma ends up hired as the protector of a village built around a town. They think Toma killed some of the gang that had been running rough shod over them, but it was actually Ichi. As the gang moves to take revenge, Toma and Ichi grow close. How it all plays out is the movie.Some people really don't like this movie. I've seen somethings that have blasted the film for not being a real Zatoichi film. Some people have taken it to task for having poor performances, especially in the lead. I really liked the film. I had no problems with Haruka Ayase as Ichi. I found her fine for what the part is. This is not a real restart of Zatoichi, its more a continuation with flashback sequences implying that the elder Ichi was this girl's father. Its a film that is going in a different direction.I have no trouble with the film being anything other than its own thing. You can't really compare it to the best of the Zatoichi series since its not really fair since those films had a couple of chances to hit their stride before they got it right. Its certainly better than the weakest of the series which could be downright dull. If I were to pin point the films flaws it would e the over length, I don't know if the film really needs to be two hours. Certainly it felt longer while watching it than when it was over. The other flaw is that the films budget at times makes it seem almost like a TV movie, especially with the use of computer generated blood.I like the film a great deal and would recommend it, especially if you let the film do what it wants to do and not take for what its not, say a continuation of Beat Takashi's take on the characters. Worth a rental or an evening at the movies.Between 7 and 8 out of 10