Watch Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto For Free

Sick Product of a Sick System

Absolutely the worst movie.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story is only beginning in this first film in the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy. Many different conflicts are foreshadowed, this is along classic giri-ninjo lines typical in Japanese jidaigeki, duty versus feeling. Parallel selves being set up, the payoff perhaps for later—two loving girls, two manipulating mothers, resolute Musashi and the contrast in his weak- willed village friend. It roughly begins from the Battle of Sekigahara.So there is not much yet to say, the film is more like the opening act of an epic film than something you may evaluate of itself, it ends just as Musashi embarks on his journey of swordsmanship. Seeing just this, you're left with an open-ended sketch, groundwork. What sketch though! This first film does not show that it mines in a cinematic way Musashi's own rich ideas about the 'Way', but that may be because he is not yet really 'Musashi'. I hope to find more in tandem in futureinstalments.But for now?It's well worth seeing, imagine a classic Hollywood western but instead of Monument Valley, a compendium of sorts of Japanese visual poetry in lush Eastmancolor. Waterfalls, bridges, cherry- blossomed branches against majestic pagodas—all of them emblematic of medieval Japan. Romantic and painterly, as samurai of the time regarded their art of bushido. (though seldom adhered to it)---I plan to watch and write about all three films, lacing each comment with a few notes on the overall context. Some historic groundwork here. The Battle of Sekigahara signalled the end of a long warring period and the beginning of the last Japanese shogunate. Whether or not postwar Japanese audiences consciously identified with the situation, Sekigahara followed the failed attempt to create an Empire over Korea and Ming China, the next such attempt would be undertaken in the 1900's starting with another annexation of Korea and cover much of the same ground as originally coveted, including Manchuria. So the timeline covered in the three films is in essence a postwar period.The outcome of the battle was largely decided by loss of the war and a depletion of troops in Western Japan over the Korean campaign. At Sekigahara, Musashi fought on the losing Western side. Contrary to what is shown in the film, he was a teenager at the time and had already fought duels. It was the leader of the losing Toyotomi fraction that had a few years prior solidified the samurai as a heritable caste.It was at around this time that Rikyu perfects practiced asymmetry in the tea ceremony—Rikyu was tea master of the Toyotomis, eventually forced into seppuku in the years leading to Sekigahara. The ensuing Edo period would more broadly see, forged in relative seclusion, the crystallization of a Japanese identity of which Musashi is among its most emblematic figures. During this time, we have the consolidation of many practices—previously introduced from China—from the tea ceremony to calligraphy and landscape painting, frequently used as diversions by the samurai. Musashi incorporated many in his own practice.So what you see in the film is visually this amalgamation of identity, wonderfully so. It isn't refined beyond appearances, neither were the samurai. This is mingled with a lot of western stuff starting with the score, a rousing piece that reminded me of Morricone.A core principle of this identity is of course bushido, the 'way of the warrior'. It would be exploited in time in the second run for an Empire, with disastrous consequences. However, unlike most warrior lore of the time that simple-mindedly exalted a devoted death, Musashi wrote about more layered stuff. Referred to as strategy in his Book of Five Rings, it is much more, cinematic for our purposes. But more on that later.

One can watch this film and learn a lot. The philosophy woven throughout, mainly by the Priest Takuan (Kuroemon Onoe), about what it means to be a man and honor your family (community) is the hidden jewel of this film.Takezo (Toshirô Mifune) represents all the rebellious youth that only think of themselves. He cares nothing for the damage he does. To the entire village, he is a dangerous animal. But, the Priest finds that he is worthy of rehabilitation and proceeds to make him into a Samurai warrior in service to the castle.This is a slow and thoughtful film, full of swordplay for those looking for that, but it is so much more for those who take the time to discover it.Kaoru Yachigusa plays Otsu, who is abandoned by her fiancé (Rentaro Mikuni) and falls in love with Takezo. Unfortunately, his training, after she waits for him for three years, has only begun as he begins a journey across Japan to get in touch with the people.I can't wait to see the next installment of this trilogy, which is cinematically brilliant, as one would expect from a Criterion disk, and features outstanding acting from all concerned.

Toshiro Mifune (of Akira Kurosawa fame) stars as Takezo. A young man who seeks fame as a warrior. He and his friend Matahachi join to fight in a civil war. When their "platoon" (for lack of a better term due to my lack of Japanese warfare knowledge) is wiped out, the two young men confide in the help of two women.The two women rob the dead bodies of Samurai. When a group of bandits wants to cash in on their treasure, Takezo fights off and kills the bandits. When Oko (the mother of the two women) observes this, she falls for Takezo. When he refuses and runs off, she tells Akemi and Matahachi that Takezo forced himself, and she refused. So, Akemi, Oko, and Matahachi leave. Only for Takezo to return to an empty home. Takezo tries to return to his home village to let Matahachi's fiancé and mother know that he is still alive. When he is accused of leaving Matahachi for dead he is pursued by the town in a manhunt. Otsu, Matahachi's fiancé, learns of Matahachi's marriage to Oko. She eventually falls for Takezo. During all this, Takezo is capturd by a Buddhist monk. Only part of the monk's larger scale plan of eventually moralizing and training Takezo. Thus, Takezo becomes the film title, Miyamoto Musashi.An excellent and colorful film. Toshiro Mifune excels as Takezo. He proves that he is up to play any type of character. His character is somewhat similar to that of his character in Seven Samurai. Ambitious, but not as strong and mature as he should be for a samurai.If you don't know too much about classic samurai cinema, this is a good place to start (this is part one in a trilogy of three films). With his short running time and color film, it may help you break into the other samurai classics that are in B&W (Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, etc.,).As a note, this won of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1955.

This is the best of the Samurai Trilogy! A very entertaining, fast paced film! Mifune does his "Wild Man" thing wonderfully! The photography is breathtaking. It's nice to see Mifune in color for a change! Loosely taken from the pages of Japanese history this is the story of a mans triumph over the ravages of war, social stigma and his own atavistic tendencies. The moral of this film.....Maybe love does not conquer all but it sure helps!