Zatoichi and the Chess Expert (1965)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Towards the beginning of the film, you have a scene that was often (too often) repeated in this series of films. It's very clever and funny, but was used in at least three different film--possibly more. It's where Ichi is the dealer with dice and "accidentally" drops dice out of the cup again and again--so the other gamblers know whether it will be odds or evens. However, using this ploy, he is able to film-flam the other gamblers by eventually dropping a much larger bet--at which time he springs his little surprise for them. Cute, but way overdone.As a result of Ichi's gambling, a certain family is angry and set out to teach Zatoichi a lesson. In a tough scene to watch, they try to break his fingers. However, Ichi escapes and in a chaotic scuffle, he starts breaking their fingers again and again. While all this seems pretty funny, the end result is that an innocent and adorable little girl is accidentally stabbed in the foot. Tetanus sets in and unless she gets medicine, she will die. Of course, despite the cost, the good Ichi promises to somehow get the medicine and save the child.Along the way, Ichi strikes up a friendship with a rather fierce ronin (a master-less samurai) who loves to play chess. Despite being a very tough character, he promises to go along with Zatoichi to protect him--mostly because this warrior is very taken with Ichi. Well, once again, Ichi does the same gambling bit he did at the beginning of the film, though things don't work out exactly the same. So, instead of a big haul, he and the ronin hit on another moneymaking plan. Thanks to their efforts, the medicine is obtained and the child quickly recovers.Ichi accompanies the lady with the child to a nearby hot spring known for its curative powers. Now the child refers to Ichi as "Uncle" and he learns that the lady is not the child's mother but a relative who has taken in the child after the death of her parents. The lady also begins to show more than just casual interest in Ichi--after all, he's awfully lovable and women in quite a few films have tried to marry him. But, like Spiderman, he knows he can't settle down, as his lifestyle and idiots seeking him out for revenge make for a miserable and very short life for any woman. In addition, the woman holds on to a secret--something she only reveals to Ichi near the end of the movie.At the spring, there are also two main characters who are introduced--a sickly young man and his sister who has traveled dressed like a man in order to come meet him. However, this plot point is kind of silly, as Kume is an exceptionally beautiful lady. Sure, she has her hair up in a ponytail like some men, but she is just too pretty to be mistaken for a man--even by Ichi! For some time you have no idea what they are up to, but Ichi knows it's something. After their servant is murdered, the young man divulges to Ichi that they have been tracking a samurai who murdered their father over a chess game and the servant was the only one who could identify the murderer. The young man assumes that now there is no way to find the killer, but Ichi realizes this sounds a lot like his new friend, the ronin.Overall, this is one of the better Zatoichi films despite the repetitive gambling scenes. That's because the plot is very complex, relationships are stressed over the action scenes and there is no usual "boss battle" at the end of the film. Sure, there are a couple serious fights, but not the usual type nor does the film end exactly as you might assume. Very good stuff, here.

The year is now 1965 and this is the twelfth entry in the Zatoichi series. Far from being stale, Zatoichi and the Chess Master heralds the start of a three film run of some of the best the series has to offer. Katsu Shintaro is now fully adept in his role as Zatoichi and director Misumi Kenji does an excellent job with the material. The story is full of surprises and little twists and turns. Some people compare Zatoichi to Columbo, and it's easy to see why here.There is not a great deal of fighting in the film, but there is suspense and great character development. Two scenes are especially moving. First, when the little girl (Miki) is cured thanks to the medicine that Zatoichi procures at great danger to himself. Miki thanks Zatoichi, and Zatoichi is all choked up. All he can do is run out of the room, full of emotion, and truly blind. He runs head first into a wooden pole, stops, and pounds his head into the pole a few more times. The second memorable scene is the scene where the Chess Master (Jumonji) begins to believe that Zatoichi has the crime figured out. Zatoichi leaves the room, the two are only separated by a thin shoji screen. Jumonji slowly grabs for the hilt of his sword. On the other side of the screen, Zatoichi stands completely still, his hand moves towards the hilt of his sword. A tense moment ensues before Jumonji relaxes and so do we all! Zatoichi feels the Force. Now he probably passes his time practicing with Yoda somewhere far, far away.

Zatoichi films are all pretty similar. There are gambling (dice) scenes, Zatoichi vs. large gang fighting scenes, massaging scenes (usually of beautiful women), Zatoichi eating and drinking scenes, bath scenes, travel sequences, often a scenes with a child (or children) - and they all wonderful. One other consistent element is that they all are shot in glorious widescreen and contain some exquisite cinematography. I always find at least a couple of scenes in each film of this series to be quite breathtaking - certainly worthy of pondering over. I find these films so appealing regardless that I know exactly what is to come.In this chapter Zatoichi meets a rather confident and intelligent foe in the guise of a chess expert. This is, of course, after he has easily defeated all his lesser foes who seek vengeance on his gambling prowess (sound familiar?). We have a female love interest and Zatoichi spurning her because of his opinion of his own "lowlife" status. All in all I was more enthralled with the first 3/4's of this particular film, but felt it failed slightly at the end. Still I think the world of Zatoichi so I give this 4.5 /5

There's little to recommend about this cheaply made samurai film. The films of this genre boast great patience, but within that patience there ought to be at least a few good samurai battles. There are only two real battles in this one. The first one has a neat setting, but it takes place during the night and it is so dark that it is difficult to see anything. The climactic battle, which is actually two consecutive battles, is very good but nothing compared to those in much more well known samurai flicks. The editing of the film is consistently poor and reduces the effectiveness of many of its scenes. This movie is only 90 minutes long, but it feels as long as The Seven Samurai. 5/10.