The Movie: Crazy Samurai Musashi
The Director: Yuji Shimomura
The Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Kento Yamazaki, Masaaki Takarai, Akihiko Sai
The Story: Legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi fights off hundreds of opponents.
The Review:
Miyamoto Musashi is the most legendary swordsman in the history of Japan and his exploits have been told many times over the years in just about every format and medium available. What makes this movie unique is that the entire fight sequence, Musashi versus 588 opponents is filmed in one single, continuous take. No cuts. Well, lots of cuts within the movie, but zero camera cuts for 77 minutes.
I am usually a fan of long, extended take sequences for many reasons although, in this instance, it absolutely did not work for me. The hacking and slashing gets old and redundant within the first ten minutes and it never elevates to anything more than what you see during that initial time. I was hoping things would escalate as the movie went on but it was just the same thing over and over. And over. If you can sit in front of a laundromat washing machine for it's entire cycle and be sufficiently entertained by the monotony of the clothes swishing around then you might be able to sit through this movie.
Crazy Samurai Musashi is a crazy concept movie although the gimmick is not something you can pull off while at the same time keeping the viewer interested in what's going on. I applaud everyone involved for the achievement, I just wish it could have been as entertaining to watch.
Crazy Samurai Musashi is an official selection of the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival.
To see more reviews, interviews, and festival coverage please go to: TwoOhSix at Fantasia 2020
Superficial review ..movie was not made with high budget ...nor the most extensive production team ...like Hollywood movies ....Tak Sakaguchi did a great job and so did the director Yuji Shimomura .There is great potential but not fully exploited ..probably a better plot configuration would have contributed to a better recognition from a wider audience ...regardless ...the movie deserves appreciation for a different filming style and the particular connection made between audience and main character from the first sword strike to the bitterness last one.Who can do such a crazy move in cinema industry ? It seems that some japanese directors can at least dare to try !
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