First Thoughts

I’m a fan of Miike Takashi.  Let me just put that out there first.  I know many people, including Japanese associates, who cannot abide by his work, but I am indeed a fan.  I am also an obsessed avid fan of samurai films, to the extent that I studied and conducted an independent study project on the genre in college.  As a result, this movie was perhaps more up my alley from the get-go than other viewers.  I will, however, try my best to be objective all things considered.  So here goes.

13 Assassins is a remake of an older film (directed by Kudo Eiichi in 1963), which was in turn made in response to the original release of the Seven Samurai film.  It is also supposedly based (very loosely) on actual events.

I watched 13 Assassins for the first time at the New York Asian Film Festival 2011, where we not only got to hear actor Yamada Takayuki speak, but we also got to see the original Japanese cut of the film.

When the film was released internationally, 15 minutes were omitted, so we got to see the movie as director Miike Takashi intended (I will get to what was different between the two cuts later). Continue reading REVIEW: 十三人の刺客 (三池崇史) – 13 Assassins (Miike Takashi) →