Takashi Kitano has been trying to tell this story for so long that Akira Kurasowa is supposed to have said that if Kitano could make the film it would rival SEVEN SAMURAI. It was only decades later, after writing the story as a novel, that Kitano could get the money and the cast to make his dream project. It may not rival SEVEN SAMURAI but it is a hell of a tale.
Where SEVEN SAMURAI is about honor and light in the wake of troubles, this is a bleak black (comedic) tale about how awful everyone is. You are either plotting to get to the next level or you are dying. There is no honor only death and ugliness. People die horribly and no one gives a shit.
This is one of the bleakest films of the year. Its a film where the violence keeps getting greater and greater and it is always horrifying. Yes its funny at times but it's stomach churning. This film is a clear indication that the bad old days of the samurai was monstrous. I got to a certain point and I wanted to hang it up because it was all ugly and I didn't like anyone.
You'll forgive the lack of details but as good as much of this film is, Kitano's script is overly complicated. There are so many characters that he has to put titles with names on them. I'm sure he knows who everyone is, but I got lost. I had big picture of what was happening, but I wasn't sure who is who. I know this is the result of Kitano knowing the story because he wrote the book which was based on history, but as an outsider I was lost. It's not fatal to the film, but it takes what should be a truly great film and makes it very good instead.
If you can take the violence and unpleasantness and are willing to have your view of the past rewritten in to bleakness KUBI is recommended when it plays Japan Cuts.
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