Japanese Outlaw Masters

Each year, the American Cinematheque hosts the Japanese Outlaw Masters series at the Egyptian Theater. I always try to catch at least a few of the movies in this series each year, because Cinematheque programmer Chris D. does such an amazing job with film selection. Last year (or maybe two years ago), I had the privilege of seeing Seijun Suzuki's Underworld Beauty and Tattooed Life in a double feature at the Cinematheque, probably one of the best nights of film viewing I have enjoyed in Los Angeles.

Tonight, two classic samurai films from director Hideo Gosha screened, and though they weren't quite up to the level of quality exhibited by Suzuki's best work, it was still a pretty thrilling double feature.

First was the 1963 adventure Three Outlaw Samurai, the more light and entertaining of the two films. Amazingly, this was Gosha's very first film, although his confidence of storytelling, abilities at directing actors and phenomenal sense of movement and composition are already visible.



It's a very Western kind of samurai movie. With a lot of films of the genre, the story tends to kind of meander around, giving you a lot of insight into the inner workings of life in Feudal Japan, but not neccessarily telling a coherent, easy-to-follow story. A movie like Sword of Doom is all gloomy tone and barely-concealed menace, but the story is so hard to follow, critics seem to disagree even on what happens during the film, and whether or not the main character is insane.

But Three Outlaw Samurai tells a rather simple story in a straight-forward manner. Three simple peasants have kidnapped the daughter of the local magistrate, offering her return in exchange for the easing of their owed taxes. A passing samurai named Shiba (Tetsuro Tamba) takes pity on them and joins their cause. Eventually, he will recruit a wayward and, until recently, jailed samurai (Isamu Nagato) and a cynical opportunist samurai (Mikijiro Hira) to his cause, while simultaneously romancing the kidnapped girl (Miyuke Kuwano).

The film builds to an incredibly sweet action climax, but the true appeal of the movie lies in its terrific, fun characters. A lot of samurai movies deal in stock characters - the silent, contemplative and powerful swordfighting master, his cowardly and traitorous compatriot, his scowling, equally powerful rival, a greedy and cold-hearted aristocratic master. Three Outlaw Samurai uses these types, but playfully. Isamu Nagato in particular turns in a wonderfully warm performance as the pleasure-loving Sakura. He's the highlight of the film.

The second film was far more serious, more ambitious but ultimately less satisfying.



The title Goyokin refers to a stash of gold bars owned by the Shogun of Japan - the royal gold. Gosha's film, made in 1969 and set in 1813, tells the story of a samurai named Magobei (Japanese film legend Tatsuya Nakadai, star of Sword of Doom, Samurai Rebellion and Kagemusha). 3 years ago, Magobei was disgraced when his clan stole the goyokin from a boat and then murdered 30 villagers to cover up their crime.

Magobei defected from the clan and took off, but he has returned 3 years later to prevent them from repeating their horrible crime once again.

Like Three Outlaw Samurai, Goyokin concerns a samurai at a crossroads. He is torn between his loyalty to his clan and his loyalty to common decency. For his fellow samurai, there is no question about stealing the money - it is defensible because it will mean the continued life of the clan, which is the only priority. But for Magobei, the destruction of the village and the murder of the innocents that leave there forever taints the clan, making in unworthy of continued existance.

Gosha tells the story, once again, with a masterful eye for action set pieces. The swordfighting scenes in this movie rule; they're expressive, fast-moving, bloody and considerably long and intense. And the lush color cinematography (Goyokin was the first Japanese film made in Panavision) is absolutely astounding. The film is set during a harsh winter in a desolate, rugged area of Japanese coastline, and the bleak chill of the surroundings comes through wonderfully in the film's stark white and blue color scheme.

And Nakadai's performance is simply magnificent. He tends to play the protagonist in many of his films, and yet there's a distant intensity to all of his performances. His Magobei is a man torn apart by conflicting senses of duty, and yet absolutely certain of his own mastery of swordsmanship. It's an endlessly interesting, charismatic and badass kind of character.

And yet, I found a good portion of Goyokin somewhat tiresome. After a brilliant, mesmerizing opening sequence, in which a girl returns to her home village to find the town filled with nothing but crows and human remains, the movie comes to a screeching halt for about a half hour. Even once the action gets going, things develop slowly and gradually. There are pacing problems throughout the rest of the film.

As well, though Goyokin resembles an adventure film, it lacks the entertaining and free-wheeling character of Three Outlaw Samurai. There's a sense of self-importance that kind of bogs everything down, and except for Magobei, none of the other supporting characters are particularly endearing.

It's a movie with outstanding, breathtaking sequences of excitement and beauty that itself is only mediocre.

But the experience of watching these two films on a big screen in a state-of-the-art theater with a cool crowd of film loveres was a real treat. There are two more nights of the Japanese Outlaw Masters series, and they're showing some amazing films (including Suzuki's Branded to Kill, one of my favorite crime films of all time on Sunday!). I won't be able to go, because I have to work, but you all totally should if you live in LA.

The Egyptian is probably, at this point, my very favorite place to see films in all of Los Angeles.