Zatoichi the Festival of Fire (1970)

Okay I love these blind swordsman movies and this one is another cool entry in the series.  This time around Zatoichi finds himself in town during a Yakuza promotion ceremony and intervenes when one of the Yakuza enforcers is roughing up the locals and terrorizing them.  Angered at the burden the Yakuza put on the peasants with their Favor Money (an illegal tax, or protection money) Zatoichi invites himself to the ceremony.  Out of politeness he is allowed to attend and manages to insult the boss of all the families bosses, their version of the Godfather, the Shogun of the Underworld, Lord Yamikubo.  In a twist of irony Yamikubo is also blind, but still manages to control all the families.  After tolerating Zatoichi for a while the Yakuza decide to try and kill him, but no matter how many assassins they send Zatoichi is victorious.  Eventually Zatoichi meets Yamikubo in a final conflict to settle the score between them.  If this weren’t enough movie for you there is a subplot about a Samurai that is hunting Zatoichi under the mistaken assumption that he slept with his wife!  These movies are never boring.

This is another great movie filled with fun characters, and with a plot that always has something going on.  From the opening mistress auction, to Zatoichi’s rescue of the Samurai’s wife, to the final confrontation between the two blind men the Festival of Fire is a blast.  Be warned though that if you aren’t interested in reading subtitles then you are going to get lost quickly with this movie, because the dialogue is going to come flying across the screen at you.  And it can be really easy to get lost, but if you do stop the DVD and go back, because this is worth paying attention to.  As always a top-notch cast portrays the characters wonderfully.  Shintarô Katsu again is wonderful as Zatoichi, bringing so much personality and life to the character.  Specific to this entry Tatsuya Nakadai doesn’t get much screen time in his role as the jealous husband trailing Zatoichi, but he makes an impression in his limited screen time.  There is also one of the creepiest characters I’ve ever seen in a Samurai movie played by an actor that is simply billed as Peter.  He plays an effeminate pimp that tries to kill Zatoichi by seducing him first.    

The fights are works of art in this movie.  Not only do you have the normal top-notch choreography, but also there are two very memorable fights.  The first is a Yakuza ambush in a bath house where all the participants re running around “unsheathed”.  In addition to being a pretty cool fight there is also some humor involving some buckets.  There is also a cool sequence involving Zatoichi and a pool of fire, which is followed by him turning the tables on the Yakuza and making them fight in the dark.  There is a shot of him fading back into the shadows that I thought was really cool looking.

Damn I do love these movies.  I recommend not only this movie, but also the entire 7-disc DVD set from the good people at AnimEigo. Check them out at www.animeigo.com/ for more information.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer