Via Chris MaGee's fine Toronto J-Film Powow, Al-Jazeera reports that interest in samurai / jidai-geki / chanbara films are waning and the martial arts performers who have played them in historical epics are being hit as hard as samurai during the Meiji Restoration as they go from performing in massive battle to amusement park theatricals. Read Chris' post and watch the report here.Will Takashi Miike save samurai cinema? It sure looks like it as he graduates from Midnight Madness to Master with 13 Assassins.
13 Assassins screening times:
Tuesday, Sept. 14. 6:00pm Ryerson
Thursday, Sept. 16. 2:00pm AMC 2
Sunday, Sept. 19. 6:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1
I'd like to think Beat Takeshi revitalized jidaigeki movies a few years ago with his take on Zatoichi but I'll give this a try either way. Miike is kind of hit and miss in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more films like Kitano's Zatoichi. Jidaigeki is probably revitalized every few years.
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