Tokkan

Tokkan is one of the oddest Japanese films I've seen in awhile. Not odd cinematically but an odd mishmash of genres with drama versus 'comedy' mixing things up. The best comparison I could give is that it's part 47 Ronin and part Kelly's Heroes - with a chunk of Porky's thrown in for good measure. There is dead serious samurai action mixed with the struggles of a farmer out looking for adventure with a zeal the size of his...well, his ambition. Our country bumpkin dashes into the battles of the Meiji period in the 1860s as the Empire seeks to usurp the local daimyo and he keeps meeting up with a petty crook out to profit from the troubles.

It's always a pleasure to see Nakadai Tatsuya even if he's pretty much just cashing the check on this one. Director Okamoto Kihachi is competent enough, the whole production feels like one of the US made for TV films from the same era, although the money that was spent is all on the screen. Unfortunately there are a series of casually portrayed rapes that lead me to believe this was some sort of 'thing' in films of this era and type but that notion didn't make them any more palatable, so there's that, be aware. It's not a terrible film but there are probably better ways to spend an hour and a half.