Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Currently sitting at a perfect 100 percent score on rotten tomatoes, this is a film noir martial arts film, about the Japanese blind swordsman known as Zatoichi. He cannot see, but has heightened senses of hearing and touch, which allows him to (reluctantly) kick massive amounts of ass. I say reluctantly because he would rather earn his way by fleecing criminals, and by working as a masseur, he resorts to violent swordplay only when necessary, as the last resort.The film moves at a slower pace than one might expect in a martial arts film, but that only serves to add depth to the character, and build mood and atmosphere. Beautiful looking black and white photography, some indoor and nighttime scenes shot in high contrast, and with some interesting composure and composition, as thin branches frame its climactic fight, filmed with completely stationary cameras, and without much editing.

mevmijaumau Zatoichi is a blind masseur swordsman-yakuza created by novelist Kan Shimozawa, whose written works spawned a film series of 20+ films and few reboots, as well as a TV series. Played by Shintaro Katsu (from Lone Wolf and Cub and Tenchu!), the principal character Ichi ("zato" is a title, signifying a lower-ranking blind man) holds the entire chanbara series on his back. This particular movie was directed by cult chanbara director Kenji Misumi.The Tale of Zatoichi, although propagated as an action hack-and-slash film, is more of a meditative, talky character-driven jidaigeki gangster drama which reveals a bit of Ichi's past and deals with his sense of justice and hatred of the ruthless gangster underworld to which he belongs himself. He befriends a sick swordsman from the neighboring yakuza clan, but as the tensions between the two clans mount he's forced to fight his friend. There's also a subplot about this asshole who discarded his pregnant lover, leading to her suicide. This guy also has a sister who falls in love with Ichi, but their romance doesn't last long because of his unsteady lifestyle.This movie is pretty entertaining and has an easy enough plot to follow. The characters are well-written and there's no unnecessary scenes; short, sweet and to the point. It also sports an interesting soundtrack in which traditional music and orchestral pieces collide.Two things I disliked about it are the dim lighting which makes it hard to distinguish what's going on in several scenes, and uninspired action scenes which pop up at the end. It's just random gangsters going all-out on each other, each time obviously missing each other with their katanas.The first two films in the series are B&W, so we'll see how the second movie compares. The highlight so far is Ichi cutting a thrown candle vertically in two equal pieces, without extinguishing it.

Brandt Sponseller Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) is a blind masseuse (masseuse was a traditional occupation for the blind in Japan) who took up sword fighting to gain more respect ("Zato" is actually a title--"Ichi" was his name; "Zato" was the lowest title in the traditional guild for the blind). He quickly mastered the art--far surpassing the average sword fighter and even the average samurai--as he seems to have a sixth sense. This film has Zatoichi visiting Sukegoro (Eijiro Yanagi) of Iioka, to "cash in" on some owed hospitality. He begins by slightly conning Sukegoro's gang in a gambling game involving dice. Shortly afterward, he learns that Sukegoro's gang is about to enter a war with Shigezo's (Ryuzo Shimada) rival Sasagawa gang. Shigezo has enlisted the services of Hirate (Shigeru Amachi), a famed samurai. Will Zatoichi help Sukegoro win his battle? This is the first in a series of 26 Zatoichi films (and a television series that ran for four seasons in the 1970s), all starring Katsu in the title role. Remarkably, 25 of the Zatoichi films were made in little more than a ten-year period. This first film was based on a short story by Kan Shimozawa.I haven't seen most of the Zatoichi films yet, and I hadn't seen any of them for a long time, so it's difficult for me to compare Zatoichi 1 with the rest of the series, but I was slightly disappointed with this film. It's a bit too much in the realm of realist drama for my tastes, and as such, moves at a slow clip. There are no big fight scenes until the last 20 minutes or so, and those aren't filmed, directed or choreographed very spectacularly. But the black and white cinematography (which only lasted for one more Zatoichi film) is frequently arresting and the dramatic material does present some intriguing situations, many concerned with various shades of ethical grayness. If you're in the market for an Asian "art-house" drama with a slight martial arts edge, Zatoichi 1 may be just the film for you. If you're looking for something more visceral, or for exciting action, it would probably be safe and wiser to start later in the series.The visual style caught my attention more often than any other aspect of Zatoichi. Director Kenji Misumi, who went on to do five more Zatoichi films after this one, has cinematographer Chishi Makiura shoot in a stark black and white that has a strong, even exaggerated film noirish edge. The whites can be almost blinding and the darks are pitch black. There are a lot of shadows. Much of the film takes place at night and indoors. It's an attractive way to use the minimal sets. The scenes set in different environments are pleasant in their contrast. A scene at a lakeside begins with a Zen Art-styled water through branches shot. The big fight scene near the end has some interesting lake shots and even better village labyrinth shots. The climactic Western (the genre)-like showdown on a bridge is also nicely staged and photographed.The story, using a script by Minoru Inuzuka, focuses on interesting character arcs for the two principals--Zatoichi and Hirate. Especially Zatoichi has a questionable morality when the film begins, but both gradually come to be more concerned with being honorable, just and unselfish by the film's end. This is in contrast to the characters embroiled in romantic relationship dilemmas--Otane (Masayo Banri), Tatekichi (Michio Minami) and Seisuke (Manabu Morita), and even the gang bosses, Shigezo and Sukegoro, who all have little to no character development arc, although Otane is already ethically good (per the conventional wisdom) at the beginning of the film.But Zatoichi and Hirate are initially set against each other as surrogate representatives of warring "families", in what amounts to a yakuza/samurai version of Romeo & Juliet (and by extension West Side Story, 1961). Of course there is no romantic angle between Zatoichi and Hirate, but there is a deep respect and a bonding through a brotherly love that eventually triumphs in its own way over "turf wars". There is an expected end to their relationship, but the appearance of this development (most significantly to the gang bosses) is quite different than what is actually going on between the two of them. The romantic angle is covered instead by Zatoichi's relationship with Otane, which has the appropriate air of being forbidden to cover the Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story analogy, and which also ends up being defined by an intriguing selflessness that rarely rears its head in western (the culture) films.Zatoichi is a fascinating character. Katsu doesn't have a typical martial arts or action star look--already in this film, he appears to be middle aged (beyond his actual age of 30 at the time of shooting) and a bit chubby. His "sixth sense" abilities and cunningness verge on the magical, as do his swordsmanship skills. The character isn't nearly as well explored here as he could be, but given that there were 25 more films to come (and a recent remake with a new Zatoichi), I suppose it's more excusable.It doesn't help that it takes awhile to get up to speed on the relatively large cast of characters with sometimes complex relationships to one another (especially if you're like me and you have trouble remembering character names as well as trouble remembering who is who when characters have similar looks), but once you figure out that it's a kind of West Side Story, it's easy enough to get the gist of events unfolding.

Atavisten A tale of warring townships and two strong characters who cant help but being pawns in a horrible game of carnage. Set in rural Japan in feudal times the setting is beautiful.Too bad the camera works don't quite follow up. The scope is 70mm (or close to it), but I could settle with less if the cameraman (I suspect they didn't have one) didn't cut off the heads all the time. The use of zoom-lens sometimes works and sometimes don't. One time zooming in on Tane-san for instance was very dramatic. Intense was also the battle scenes. Very good.Zatoichi is a good character and the actor playing him is fitting. The story is good and makes for an intriguing film despite some flaws. In all respects I think its inferior to Sanjuro though.This is my first Zatoichi and I will check out other entries in the series for sure (at least the Kitano "Zatoichi" from 2003 is easy to get hold on).