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Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
(2003)
Zatôichi
The final and most savage installment of the series.
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Stars: Ittoku Kishibe, Beat Takeshi Kitano, Akira Emoto, Michiyo Okusa, Yui Natsukawa
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Writer: Tatsumi Ichiyama, Shintarô Katsu
Language: English
Studio: Miramax Films
Duration: 116
Rated: R
DVD Release: November 2013

Takeshi Kitano, the Japanese actor-director best known in the U.S. for his quirky, ulraviolent gangster movies ("Fireworks", "Brother", "Sonatine") applies his off-kilter sensibility to the samurai genre in "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi". A blind masseur (Kitano with his hair dyed white) wanders into a small town divided up by rival gangs. Though hunched and shuffling, Zatoichi soon reveals his deadly skills as a swordsman. He befriends a pair of geisha girls with secrets of their own and helps them hunt down the bandits who killed their parents. But one of the gangs has just hired a ronin, a masterless samurai, whose fighting skill may equal the blind swordsman's. "Zatoichi" mixes a melodramatic storyline, deadpan comedy, and dazzling, CGI-enhanced swordfights into a supremely entertaining package. In Japan, Zatoichi is a recurring character in popular action movies, but Kitano places his own unique stamp on the series.


Shintarô Katsu
Ittoku Kishibe
Beat Takeshi Kitano
Akira Emoto
Kanako HiguchiBoss Han Bosatsu
Michiyo Okusa
Takanori JinnaiInspector Hanshu
Ryûtarô GanBoss Goemon (as Takehiro Okumura)
Yui Natsukawa
Yûya UchidaBoss Akabei
Toyomi KusanoUme
Tsurutarô KataokaTsuru
Miho Nakayama
Ken OgataRônin / Masterless samurai
Norihei MikiZatoichi's friend
Naonori Aihara
Ryo Akashi
Buntaro Aoyanaki
Yosuke Ara
Gô AwazuKame
Genre: Action, Foreign Language
Media: Blu-ray
Sound: Stereo
IMDb: 0363226