Director
Kenji Misumi
Cast
Tomisaburo Wakayama - Ogami Itto
Akihiro Tomikawa - Ogami Diagoro
Reiko Kasahara - The Mad Woman
Tomoko Mayama - Osen
One thing I admire about the Japanese film company, Toho, is how serious they take the movie art form. Even in some of their shlocky titles like War of the Gargantuas (1966), Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965), or King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Toho casts dedicated, serious actors who put so much into their roles and performances.
This is especially true of their 1972 production, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance - the first film of a six part series of Japanese chambara (sword fighting) movies based on the manga graphic novels created by Kazuo Koike.
With the amount of influence this series has left on other films and stories, I feel inadequate to dare critique this first film, or any of the other films. But it greatly deserves more attention, a wider audience, and much of that is thanks to Toho who produced this hidden masterpiece. They're responsible for this movie's perfection and quality.
As Sword of Vengeance is the first of six movies, it gives a wonderful introduction into the story line surrounding the protagonist, a disgraced former executioner turned assassin, Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his three-year old son, Ogami Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa).
I'm not familiar with the manga series. I first watched these films about 15 years ago while I was still living in Oakland, California. Back then I wasn't as invested in these movies as I am now.
Itto is a former executioner who wanders the Japanese countryside pushing his son in a wooden carriage as a sign reading "child and expertise for rent" hangs off the cart.
As he and his son wander, a deranged woman runs up to both and takes Daigoro from the cart believing the child is her own dead baby.
The woman tries to breastfeed Diagoro who resists only until his father gives him a stern look.
The woman's mother runs to the scene crying, and apologizes to Itto claiming her daughter is delusional and thinks his son is really her lost baby.
As Itto wanders during one particular rainy day, he recalls a similar kind of day when his wife, Asami, was murdered by three ninjas as an act of revenge.
All that's left for him after her murder is his role as an assassin for hire.
After a short while, an imperial official hires Itto to kill a rival of his along with the rival's gang of miscreants as they're some kind of threat to the official's lord.
Little does Itto know that this official has a plan to test his skill.
While they're talking privately, two henchmen sneak up behind Itto with swords drawn.
Without batting an eye, Itto slings his blade out before they have a chance to attack.
In one of the most impressive scenes I've ever seen, Itto unsheathes his sword and slashes behind his back in a quick maneuver neither the thugs nor the audience saw coming. They die without Itto so much as turning around to look.
Impressed (who wouldn't be?), the official hires Itto and sends him to a hot springs location inhabited by debauched individuals, rogue ronins (samurais), and other less-than-savory people. And that's where he finds his hit.
The concluding battle is the precious cherry on this superb film.
I've noticed Japanese films often use close ups for emotional affect as these types of shots capture strong emotion on the faces of the actors. Those looks share that same emotion with the audience. Even in the horror film The Grudge, this technique was well used and made the movie work as a scary picture. It's very effective.
Director Kenji Misumi captures the intensity Wakayama puts into the face and body language of Itto brilliantly. He doesn't need to speak and tell the audience how much he'll do to protect his son, or what he's willing to do at the bidding of a hire. His natural senses are his superpower.
He's a broken hero like other heroes western audiences are familiar with. But western movie audiences are likely familiar with a specific sense, or idea, of good and evil that doesn't quite match with certain eastern philosophies and influences that shaped the east's idea of what a good deed and a bad deed is. I say this because some instances in the movie made me wonder if Itto was an antihero or a hero. I tended to lean towards antihero. For example, while at the hot springs, some ronins he encounters there plot to kill Itto. However, the agree to spare his life (unaware of who he is) if he'll have sex with the one of the prostitutes. The woman refuses, and they threatened to kill her.
To spare her life, Itto agrees to engage with her for the sake of sparing her life.
When it comes to Diagoro, one scene in particular tells the audience just the right amount of backstory.
Itto and Diagoro encounter children playing a game with a ball in the middle of the road. Itto has a flashback to a crucial event in his son's life that took place shortly after his wife was killed.
He places a toy ball and a sword in front of his toddler son. He tells Diagoro that if he reaches for the ball, he'll kill him so that he can spend eternity with his deceased mother. Itto believes this is the better option for the child. If he reaches for the sword, Itto tells him that this will be a decision to live the life of a ronin and wander by his side. Itto sees this as a life among demons on the path straight to hell.
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| Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Itto. |
The blades are swift, and Misumi ensures each viewer doesn't miss a thing.
I kept thinking back to the current series The Mandalorian from Disney as I watched this film. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if much inspiration for that project was pulled from the Lone Wolf and Cub series.
I admit I'm not familiar with the manga series the movie is based on. Nevertheless, this movie has great respect for the art of film making. Details and portrayals seem done with pride in performances to earn respect from the audience whom no doubt consists of many fans of the source material. There's reference in the flow of this first movie.
Toho knows how to make a movie for the sake of conveying precisely what producers want the audience to think and feel. I didn't get any kind of feeling this was a movie based on a graphic series. Rather, it felt like a samurai film with higher standards than the majority of western films I've watched. Not even the best American western movie has this amount of reference.
The west might be popular when it comes to movies, but Toho quite often pulls the art of motion picture story telling off beautifully. Case and point - Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance.
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