I'm sorry for all the Canadian folk who joyfully participated in this recreation of yet.another. Sengoku Jidai war, but Ten To Chi To isn't a good film.
Warlords Takeda Shingen and. Uesugi Kenshin decide that they want each other's land. They mount a long offensive, which makes up the vast majority of the film.
A huge number of extras, horses, traditional costumes, which are put to NO USE at all as there is no story (aside from "i want to kill that guy"), exceptionally sparse dialogue, mediocre acting, and absolutely forgettable characters.
I mean, yeah, as a documentary, this wouldn't be bad. But that's it, this isn't a film in your traditional sense. There's no tension, no conflict between characters. We are given no reason to root for one or the other party, but are instead left to watch a long recreation of a medieval battle.
Film need some artifice to keep the viewer interested. They need a protagonist, and evil, villainous antagonist, a love interest, a battle against odds, character arcs, etc .. Of course, not every film needs to follow this formula, but Ten To Chi To not only foregoes traditional storytelling, but also uses only long camera shots, minimal dialogue(of really dubious quality), monotonous palette, barebones acting, and every fault you can pin on a director whose IMDb rating average is less than formidable.
I would not recommend this film. Pretty much every other film about the same time period is more interesting than this, it may not have hundreds of long-distance-shots of men on horses in it, but unless you reeally, really crave your Japanese recreationism, i would avoid Ten To Chi To.
Or, you know, watch something with a story, like The Last Samurai.
My vote: 5.5/10 - boring and .. empty.
Warlords Takeda Shingen and. Uesugi Kenshin decide that they want each other's land. They mount a long offensive, which makes up the vast majority of the film.
A huge number of extras, horses, traditional costumes, which are put to NO USE at all as there is no story (aside from "i want to kill that guy"), exceptionally sparse dialogue, mediocre acting, and absolutely forgettable characters.
I mean, yeah, as a documentary, this wouldn't be bad. But that's it, this isn't a film in your traditional sense. There's no tension, no conflict between characters. We are given no reason to root for one or the other party, but are instead left to watch a long recreation of a medieval battle.
Film need some artifice to keep the viewer interested. They need a protagonist, and evil, villainous antagonist, a love interest, a battle against odds, character arcs, etc .. Of course, not every film needs to follow this formula, but Ten To Chi To not only foregoes traditional storytelling, but also uses only long camera shots, minimal dialogue(of really dubious quality), monotonous palette, barebones acting, and every fault you can pin on a director whose IMDb rating average is less than formidable.
I would not recommend this film. Pretty much every other film about the same time period is more interesting than this, it may not have hundreds of long-distance-shots of men on horses in it, but unless you reeally, really crave your Japanese recreationism, i would avoid Ten To Chi To.
Or, you know, watch something with a story, like The Last Samurai.
My vote: 5.5/10 - boring and .. empty.