Matt!’s review published on Letterboxd:
Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
I’m a very big fan of classic Japanese cinema, and as such I have always mentally crowned Toshiro Mifune as THE god among men. Yet, while his supporting performance here is still up to par, it’s Tatsuya Nakadai who may have finally proven himself a worthy challenger for that title.
His work in Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion, among others, has always impressed me, but the sheer psychopathic rage and emotional detachment he embodies in this performance is unparalleled by anything seen on film before this point. The camerawork frames him a light so menacing and gruesome for its time that it becomes difficult to imagine how audiences first reacted to seeing this onscreen. The fights are violent and bloody, the body count is high, and the pandemonium that ensues in the final scene is truly something to behold.
The only issue for me, initially, was the abrupt ending. There were so many threads left unresolved that I sat scratching my head for a while, searching the internet for interpretations. Luckily, I stumbled upon one that satisfies me:
Ryunosuke, sometime during the final battle, is killed; thus, what we witness is his own private hell: an endless barrage of perceived enemies at every turn, wounding him further and further but never quite enough to actually kill him. Eternal chaos. “The sword is the soul…Evil mind, evil soul.”
However, knowing that this was originally intended to be the first in a trilogy that was never made, I realize that this is providing the movie with an excuse for an ending that, combined with the pretty significant loose ends, is realistically just indicative of a forever incomplete character arc. Tragic.
And yet…this movie is almost 60 years old. It’s all we’re getting. And so, I choose to believe the interpretation.
An incredible performance and a brilliant film. Five stars.
