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Movie Review: The Blind Swordsman's Vengeance (Zatoichi no uta ga kikoeru)

In this week's Zatoichi installment we get a character, a blind monk, who actually questions Zatoichi's lifestyle choice. This becomes most pointed when Zatoichi kills in front of a child who had already been enamored of the blind swordsman. Zatoichi seems unsure of his choices, but ultimately resigned to it because it is what he knows and what he is good at. Later conversations with the monk, in good zen koan fashion, reveal that the monk also thinks he made the right choice when he killed the people, even though it was also the wrong choice.

But the basic plot is the typical story, although this time the woman involved is a prostitute in the village he is saving, and he doesn't really get a chance to gamble. The bad guys do try to use loud noises to disorient Zatoichi, but really it doesn't seem to work at all. Unbeatable, I tell you.

I am getting a little sad that all these hints at more interesting things that could have been done will probably not amount to anything more than just hints. So maybe it will be OK that the next few weeks will be zatoichi-less on the tivo due to world cup obligations.