A late film from Kon Ichikawa, approximately the eightieth in his sixty-year directing career. An honest magistrate uses guile as well as samurai skills to clean up a corrupt feudal fiefdom. The tale is framed by two scribes recording the "official" version of events: their ironic comments are funny as they gossip about all the juicy stuff they have to leave out of their chronicle; but behind their worldly-wise cracks, they really don't know what's going on, so the irony doubles back on them. The hero plays a shifty game going after his prey; his dodges are very amusing, and the star Koji Yakusho really seems to be enjoying himself. The corrupt port city, a medieval Big Easy, is a big rotten playground in nacreous colors that bleed into each other. About the only hard edges to be seen - until the blades come out - are the checkerboard squares on the robe of the determined Miss Keiko, who pursues the magistrate all the way from Edo. Ichikawa keeps his touch light and sure - what other great director has aged so well? - his mastery intact, with no sign of faltering or hardening.
