Watches
April 16, 2022
If you look at his oeuvre, it's clear that Miike has always been a busy man, but in between all his films he still found time to direct a couple of theater plays too. Together with Sho Aikawa he takes on the legendary Zatoichi character and adapts one of his stories to the stage.
Zatoichi has a price on his head after killing a couple of Kappo officials. When he enters a gambling den he quickly notices that the dealers are cheating. He brings their foul play to light, but this raises the suspicion of the Twin Snakes, two brothers who could very well use the money.
Like Demon Pond, Miike makes great use of lightning and sound to create an entire universe on his minimalist set. With Aikawa and Endo, he has some fine actors too. It takes a while for the story to get going and the near 3-hour runtime is way too long, but the final hour is pretty interesting and kept me engaged. It's a real shame it took Miike too long to get there.