Samurai Spy (1965)

[Drunk Monk]

I didn’t know anything about this film but it looked fun. Wow. What a gem. 

It had me at ‘hello’ with the opening scene - a sprawling landscape scene of thr battle of Sekigahara. In 65, there were no effects. That’s a huge mob scene. HUGE. 

Then it moves to a dozen plus years later and war is brewing. A samurai scout gets entangled in a web of ninjas and painfully complicated political intrigue. I gave up trying to follow that until the end when it all came together. I think that was an intentional device of the tale because the samurai is constantly discovering who the enemy might be and it reflects his own confusion.

This has everything the chanbara of the 70s had: sanguineous, lopped off body bits, brutal torture and murder, and good swordfights. The choreo is frenzied at first but it’s working to that finale duel and it’s on this epic bridge, that again, isn’t a special effect. It’s not a set either. It’s this crazy folk bridge and it’s huge. HUGE. There’s not many set pieces here. It’s real temples and structures - old school architecture still appropriate to the period. 

Most of all, it’s of that age when directors really understood B&W. The cinematographic compositions are like stark photos that move. It’s just beautiful to behold these arrangements of light and shadow.’many times I was just awestruck on how the scene was framed. 

Setting some of thr fights in these panoramic settings really works, and the fights are fun. There’s a lot of shuriken to the head & one against dozens, but there are also some excellent 1on1 duels and some borderline one-ers. There’s this wonderful scene where the samurai sees his buddy fighting off several attacks in a distant field and he charges in but it’s done in real space so we see the fight from the hill, the charge down the hill and then the fight. Delightful continuity. 

I should just trust in criterion and watch every martial arts film they have. They select some choice stuff - top shelf martial arts flicks.

[cranefly]

Thanks for gawking this one.  I'd passed over it multiple times, thinking it a silly cheesy parody based on the title and the image of the guy dressed in white seeming  to soar in a hang glider.   My mistake.

And thanks for the warning about the who's who challenge, what with all the different factions, some supporting one shogunate, some the other, some neutral, some spies, some double spies, some triple, and some people saying they're named such-and-such but actually they're so-and-so, and all the shuriken-chicanery and backstabbing.

So I was prepared to venture into the fog in the proper state of mind, paying particular attention to names, to keep them sorted, using my patented mnemonic system (one shogunate I remembered as Toyota), tying red ribbons to the trees so to speak.  Which enabled me to keep everything straight for the first 20 seconds.

Warning: Be sure to have subtitles on, or else you're likely to get lost straight out of the gate.

Note:  Understanding the spy-games is not essential to enjoying this movie.

[Drunk Monk]

Yeah, this was a total hidden gem, right? I put it off for the same reason. 

The ninja politics were starting to piss me off until I figured out that it didn't matter at all. Everyone is going to double cross everyone. It was more about the cinematography and choreography of the film for me.

[cranefly]

I decided to test chatDPT with a hard question.

Q: can you provide a synopsis of the Japanese movie Samurai Spy (1965)?

A: "Samurai Spy" (1965) is a Japanese film directed by Kosaku Yamashita, based on a novel by Ryo Wada. The movie is set in the late 16th century during the Sengoku period of Japan, a time of war and political turmoil.
The movie follows the story of a man named Mochizuki Tomonosuke, who is a skilled samurai and a spy for the powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Tomonosuke is tasked with infiltrating the rival warlord's camp and gathering information about their plans and strategies. However, he finds himself torn between his duty as a spy and his loyalty to his own clan.
As he gathers information, he discovers a plot to overthrow Hideyoshi, and must decide whether to betray his lord or be true to his clan. Throughout the movie, Tomonosuke faces many challenges, including betrayals, fights and attempts on his life, but ultimately tries to make the right decision.
The movie is considered a classic in the Jidaigeki genre, which is a type of film that explores the life and culture of the samurai during Japan's feudal period.
The film is a historical fiction, and is not based on any true events, the story is well-crafted, the acting is great and the movie is well-made.

Me: Not very detailed, but creepily clean.

[Drunk Monk]

creepily is a good descriptor here...