Kill! by Kihachi Okamoto

Category: Non-English

This film definitely has some value for the Samurai genre, there's also apparently plenty of references to previous Samurai works preceeding this. The film was made in 1968, it's a little drawn out at an almost 120 mins run time but that's because it relies a lot on the melodrama and dialogues which appear to have no real significance at that time.

Okamoto's movie talks about a Samurai completely disillusioned by being a Samurai and he happens to befriend a farmer who aspires to be a Samurai. There are plenty of expected scenes in the film, but there's one character who is vastly underestimated and that is the leader of the Ronin who are in search of getting their reward. There's also an entire plot line that is basically done to accomodate characters one would normally have difficulty putting in otherwise.

The Samurai code comes under tremendous digs in the film, there's extreme scrutiny of the way a Samurai behaves and how he does under times of strife and conflict. There are the expected scenes but in terms of what this film stands for - helping create a concrete genre of the Samurai it's very remarkable.

I must warn you though unless you really like Samurais and are enchanted by Miyamoto Musashi and the kind of rich lore that brings along with itself it's highly likely you might pass out during this films screening, so be prepared to research a little on what I just said before getting into this one!

Recommendation level: 3/5 - Yeah, it's a bit long but all's well that ends well! Here's to Cinema I suppose!