DON’T POKE THE SAMURAI

Watching films that have very long one-shot sequences and even films that are shot in one take are impressive, to say the least.  It’s an accomplishment for the directors and their crew and it pays homage to staged cinema.  Hearing about Crazy Samurai Musashi which screened at this year’s virtual edition of the Fantasia Film Festival had audiences, critics and the film industry wondering what they were really in for.  The film is based on legendary Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi during the early 1600s.  Played by Japanese film star Tak Sakaguchi, the film depicts Mushashi’s hardest battle and director Yuji Shimomura and writer Sion Sono help to put this on the silver screen.  There have been attempts in the past as with the Samurai trilogy featuring Toshiro Mifune where this legendary samurai has been seen in cinema.  But nothing like the director’s Yuji Shimomura‘s portrayal of Miyamoto Musashi has been done before.

After a very interesting opening sequence where a noble boy is brought about to be used as bait to lure Musashi to the Yoshioka school of sword fighting, the action truly begins.  This one-shot 77- minute take shows why Musashi is a legend as he fights his way in accumulating 588 kills.  It is truly remarkable and disturbing at the same time as director Yuji Shimomura shows what a crazy samurai Musashi is.  His strength, lack of fear, sword skills, cardio, stamina and courage are all shown through this hard-fought battle where it is him and against the world.

The choreography of the fighting of this whole 77 -minute period is unreal and you can sense that they took much time in planning the whole sequence.  There are enough locations that Musashi gets to roam during this period and enough breaks where he can get some wind.  But the physical prowess of Tak Sakaguchi himself is uncanny making himself look like a true samurai.  Not to mention what the whole film crew had to go through to shoot this must have had everyone in a bottle of emotions.  Nevertheless, it is a testament to Japanese cinema of how far they have come in the industry and how Crazy Samurai Musashi is a groundbreaking and a turning point for most films ahead.

The selling point of this film is the 77-minute take but many tend to forget or may not be in the know that this whole sequence was shot nine years ago.  The footage was put on the shelf for such a long time that there was finally a means to the end.  A narrative came about thanks to Sion Sono who wrote the opening sequence for the film.  Sakaguchi who broke one of his fingers snapped a couple of ribs and did some damage to his molars was forced to retire from the film.  He was then brought out of retirement to finish the film after almost a decade, where he shows off his skills once again for the final stanza of the film.  They say time heals all wounds and as for Takaguchi’s case, that much needed time away from this film was what the doctor ordered.