Scabbard Samurai

Saya-zamurai is a strange movie. It is, strangely, at the same time its best quality and its biggest flaw.

The beginning almost lost me: we follow a pityful character - an old samurai, with no sword and almost decaying. He is followed by a child, plus burlesque assassins, introduced in a very-tarantinesque way, and with slash of blood copied from Kill Bill. On top of that, one of the first scene with the child (fetching medicinal plant) is badly shot and looks horribly false.

I did however go on with the movie and was happy to do that. With the next part and the challenge imposed on our main character - I won't say our hero!, the movie changed its tone and become a hell lot better. Not perfect, there is a part of repetition that the director tries to mitigate but could'nt fully because of the setting of the story. There was maybe some funny scenes typically Japanese that I did not get. But that part, a bit "Kikujiro"s Kitano" inspired, in its own way, deserves your viewing, until the end twist.

That tale of the redeeming of a shameful samurai and father manages to go over the comedy (visual comedy mainly) and reach a depth I wouldn't have believed only moments before. Reflection on what is a show, it does not limit to that as it will get you emotionally involved as well.

In conclusion, this movie is full of weaknesses but still manage to propose very good parts if you let it a chance.

Director Hitoshi Matsumoto (best noted for his bizarrely funny debut, BIG MAN JAPAN) has a filmmaking approach strongly influenced by Japanese television; if film relates to his output, it's primarily through TV skits and parody. It's to our benefit that we can enjoy a film like SCABBARD SAMURAI - the story of a buffoon with coke-bottle glasses on the lam from the clan. He's forced to endure a strange punishment: he will win clemency from a local lord - if he can make his forlorn son smile.

The set-up is far-fetched, spiced up with stock characters from familiar Japanese genre films. The remainder of the film, and the scabbard samurai's life, is spent trying to come up with increasingly elaborate gags, which capture the imagination of the populace. The gags are funny in a desperate, straight faced sort of way - not unlike a Japanese Buster Keaton - making for classic physical comedy.

Matsumoto doesn't act in SCABBARD SAMURAI; instead, he relies on visual narrative and an appealing cast of supporting actors to tell its story. Some might prefer BIG MAN JAPAN with its insane special effects, but SCABBARD SAMURAI captures Matsumoto's comic talents in a plot that's engrossing and genuinely amusing.

Matsumoto continues to explore his gaze at paternity, just like he did in in one of the two parts of 'Symbol' (2009). 'Scabbard Samurai' portraits paternity through the love of a girl that wishes the best for her father, a samurai that has lost all of its honor, despite odds being against hope. There's nothing sadder than the look of a kid watching their father being humiliated, over and over, and Matsumoto knows it.

Hitoshi Matsumotos's work as a director is unclassifiable, his movies do not belong to any particular genre, and Saya-zamurai is a good example of it. Despite the movie talking about such deep and transcendental topics, Matsumoto explores them from comedy to drama, from genuine laughter to inevitable grief, always with an interesting twist of embarrassment.

...I watched this movie several years ago but yesterday somehow, I stumbled upon again; so I decided to put a few words about here. All are writing about the comedy intention of the Director and how funny (or not) the movie is but that is not the main point of the story. Is about a path to recover the Dignity in an intelligent and silly style. Persistence; Honor; Love; Solidarity; Humility and many more great Humanity values disguised as a light comedy/drama The Zen Buddhism finale worth the watching and put many extra points to the story.

I still don't know if I am the odd one out for adoring Matsumoto's films like I do. In any case, I am not alone. We saw it at the Festival International de Cinema Fantastic de Sitges and the room was crowded, laughing and crying like kids. I think Matsumoto makes cinema in capital letters. With very sparse dialog, the story is told mainly through the visual. In his third movie, he is not acting, but the direction is wonderful. The premise of the story was very similar to children stories, although aimed at adults. The magic, the fantastic... was all there. Like with Symbol, the audience laughed and laughed for more than one hour. I totally loved it, because on top of being very well made, it made me feel absolutely happy. We patientlly wait for his next one.