Ichi is a blind woman who roams about town with her shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese guitar), but she has exceptional sword skills with which she fights off yakuza and other villains. Following the footsteps of the blind masseur and swordsman Zatoichi comes Ichi, a woman and a daughter who travels the land as a 'goze' or visually impaired woman who plays the traditional three-stringed shamisen. This woman, however, has a hidden talent. She not only has the command of a lightning-fast blade, but also uses it in terms of justice and a quest for her long-lost father. Matching her skill is a man whose swordsmanship is only bested by his internal inhibition. Imagine if Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had an adopted daughter that was also blind and that he taught his sword skills. Also imagine that he left her at goze house as he went out on his travels, and she grew up to be a skilled musician. That's basically Ichi, a satisfying spin on the long-running saga of the blind swordsman.<br/><br/>The plot centers on Ichi's search for Zatoichi (who has been missing for quite some time), her tragic back-story, a feud between two yakuza gangs in an inn town, and a traveling warrior that eventually befriends Ichi. Haruka Ayase makes for a good (and absolutely gorgeous) Ichi, and plays her as soft-spoken, reserved and stoic while letting her determination, dangerousness, and lighter side break through when appropriate. Ayase is also great in the action scenes, which are pretty well done and bloody without crossing the line into gory. <br/><br/>I liked Ichi. There's nothing groundbreaking about it, but I enjoyed the characters (even though the antagonists are unfortunately two dimensional) and the balance between fighting and character development/story is excellent. This isn't a pure action film by any means, it's fairly leisurely-paced outside of action scenes (Ichi doesn't play around with her enemies). There's more than enough here to make the story of the blind swordsman(woman) worth visiting again. About a blind but deadly woman forsaken by her home-village and a man she meets on the way.<br/><br/>It's not packed with non-stop action it's more story based than it is action based but the action that there is is really well orchestrated.<br/><br/>The story packs plenty of emotion, possibly a bit depressing for some people but I enjoyed it.<br/><br/>The acting, cinematography, music, editing etc is all good even if the second half gets a little too slow at times but one could argue that it needed to be, anyway yeah overall it's a stellar piece of work that should satisfy your samurai-movie needs.
Grademm replied
295 weeks ago