First of all, let me say I agree with most of the comments left by the reviewer Kuuzo. That was a great review. This movie though for me was a terrific surprise - in that most of what I had read and heard before watching this movie had been so negative as to pretty much turn me off on seeing it all. I believe now that those bad reviews were written by folks who did not watch the film to its conclusion - that or they did not pay close attention to what they were watching. Lucky for me though Motoki Mashiro is one of my wife's favorite actors so she ordered a copy and we watched it together.
Like many Japanese films such as The Mystery Of Rampo and Casshern , there is a touch of ambiguity to the end that requires the viewer interpret for themselves what the film was ultimately about. And so my take on the movie may be different than yours. (I kind of like it that way sometimes...)
My take on the movie is as follows:
Ganryujima presents a Musashi who is brutish, cruel and clearly a madman. Att this point in his life he has pretty much lost his humanity. He has defeated Baiken and wiped out the entire Yoshioka school and most importantly, he has butchered the Yoshioka figurehead who was a mere child ( a scene absent from the most popular film version of Musashi's life). In Ganryujima he is not traveling to the famous island to fight a duel with Kojiro. He is taking his boatride to meet his death. The movie makes a game of having him "forget" his swords, but by the end of the movie, when his real personality emerges it is obvious this was not a matter of forgetting anything.
In the final battle against a mass of samurai who have come to exact revenge upon him, his attitude provides the answers for the movie's puzzle. He reluctantly enters the fight, at first beating his enemies down without cutting them. However after a few moments his face shows the realization that he will have to kill them all - that he must unleash himself as it were. The expression on his face goes through a marvelous transition in that moment which in itself makes the film worth watching. He then proceeds to go through his enemies like a lawn mower. The music in this scene is perfect and gives depth and understanding to who this swordsman is beyond his appearance and earlier behavior. Not only is the scene exciting, it has an uncanny accuracy in that having read the real Musashi's Book Of Five Rings, I found myself watching as he used not only many of the techniques he wrote about, but also it was the first good presentation of "no mind combat".
Other aspects of the movie worth mentioning are the direction, cinematography and artiste performance. The visuals were beautiful and for all the talking this movie is perfectly paced. The comedy is deceptively fun and the actual drama perfectly subdued until the end.
Lastly I came away from with Ganryujima understanding why my wife is such a huge fan of Motoki Masahiro. For although I have seen him in many roles that ranged from comical to bizarre, his performance in this movie completely blew me away. I am now convinced there is no role he cannot play to its fullest. He is an amazing actor.
In the end thought, don't take my word on this movie. See it yourself. You might be surprised.
1 out of 1 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
