Azumi

Ryuhei Kitamura made a movie called Versus. It was an ultra low budget debut that played like a cross between The Evil Dead and Hard Target. Surprisingly it worked really well, partially thanks to Kitamura’s unique skills as a director and his gleeful sense of humour. Two weeks after Versus opened Kitamura was approached to do a movie version of the long running Manga series Azumi. He agreed to direct the movie and in doing so would produce the definition of guilty pleasure movies during a near war behind the scenes.

The plot of Azumi concerns a group of teen assassins raised as infants by an ex-soldier who had lost his son to the last Great War. These children, orphaned during the war, were trained in the elite ways of swordsmanship. After a harrowing final test the remaining assassins set off for the rest of Japan to complete their ultimate mission, the elimination of all those who would start wars.

Essentially the story is about the assassinations of the lords who are plotting wars and the measures that one of the victim’s takes to keep himself alive. Nevertheless, this is not a movie built on plot but rather darkly comic and at times impeccable cool fight scenes. The easiest way to describe it would be the Japanese equivalent of a superhero movie. You just have to leave your analytical brain at the door and marvel as Kitamura manages to grasp the spirit and energy of the mad max films that has evaded so many other directors.

That isn’t to say that Azumi is a post apocalyptic but it captures perfectly the angry kinetic violence and general anarchy of those classic Australian road movies. It also does something that truly is a blast from the past. Like those old 80s, movies it manages to make violence both horrifying and also extremely fun without ever seeming over flippant. That’s not to say the characters crack wise during their fights, in fact all the confrontations are very serious but they exist in a world where everything has a certain tongue in cheek quality to it.

What really stands out about the movie aside from the swordplay and sumptuous explosions are the array of brilliant characters. The main heroes themselves are pure ciphers, all that you really know about them is that they are kids who can fight real good. However the opponents they are facing all bustle with energy and vibrancy whether it be irritable monkey ninja Saru, dour sword master and gunslinger General Kanbei, the hilarious Sagawa brothers or the wonderfully psychotic Bijomaru. In particular, the Sagawa brothers despite an easy dispatch early on in the film are very memorable villains due to their meat headed loopiness and a classic death line for the elder brother.

Bijomaru, played with seeming relish by Jo Odagari, is a truly wonderful villain who makes a great impression with only limited screen time. He is completely over the top and not in the slight bit menacing but he has a presence that makes his overly energetic portrayal enrapturing. The real star of the show however is the exceedingly stylised violence.

Kitamura really has a flair for action sequences and this movie is definitely a showcase for his rare talents. He may not make ground-shattering movies like Takashi, Pek-Ek, or Tsukamoto but it is hard to disparage his eye for wanton destruction. There is a real style to his directing which masks a lot of his lack of substance. There are scenes where the action becomes almost poetic and this is all down to Kitamura who turns the slaughter of ninjas into an experimental freeze frame montage as Azumi weaves her sword faster than ever before and her victims fall in jilted slow motion behind her.



This is not a deep movie or a realistic movie, none of the actors save for the Sagawa brothers are believable when sword swinging. But it is an immensely enjoyable piece which ends with a half hour action sequence which is pure movie magic and has one of the best camera shots ever in it, which was subsequently nicked by I-Robot. If you can avoid being a movie snob then you will probably love this little gem.