yup
Director: Ten Shimoyama
Running time: 101 minutes
Language: Japanese
The big fight scenes in samurai swashbucklers used to unfold like
dance numbers, with the hero as the prima, the attackers as the
corps de ballet. The audience was expected to admire the virtuoso
choreography and bravura turns, while ignoring the absence of
blood, just as they would at a Kabuki play.
Now the samurai movie and its variants are back, but the model has
changed. Films like Hiroyuki Nakano's "Red Shadow," Hideyuki
Hirayama's "Makai Tensho (Samurai Resurrection)" and Ryuhei
Kitamura's "Azumi" are closer to video games than Kabuki or ballet.
The fighters have highly distinct powers, costumes and physiques,
but little depth -- they are types, not individuals. The story is a
series of fight scenes, with the supporting players falling by the
wayside (or vanishing into a clouds of pixels), until only the hero
and the leader of the bad guys are left to duel it out. The ending,
unlike the final "boss" stage of a game, is a foregone
conclusion.
Ten Shimoyama's "Shinobi," with its story of two warring ninja
clans in the early days of the Tokugawa era, follows this game
formula -- but with differences that make it a cut above the genre
run. A king-of-all-media type who has directed everything from TV
dramas to a theme-park attraction, Shimoyama aspires to the epic,
mythic quality of Zhang Yimou's "Hero" or Ang Lee's "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- and attains it surprisingly often. I say
"surprisingly" because most Japanese films in this genre settle for
the surface flash and dazzle of the arcade. Shimoyama may be aiming
at the same teen gamer market, but takes his material more
seriously.
Also, the effects supplied by CG director Hiroyuki Hayashi are in
the service of the story and characters, not simply for eye-popping
display. Some are dazzling, as when the hero, Gennosuke (Joe
Odagiri), uses superhuman powers of concentration to see water
tumbling over a waterfall in ultravivid slow motion. Or as when the
heroine, Oboro (Yukie Nakama), pierces a foe with her glance (her
eyes changing color in the process) and shorts out his synapses, in
a sequence that resembles an animated medical drawing in
hyper-realistic 3-D.
These and other feats derive from the ninjas' training and
abilities, not simply from cartoonlike superpowers. Impossibly
exaggerated, yes; verging on the absurd, no. Also, they defeat each
other more with their smartness than brute power displays. Again,
not the standard zap-'em-till-they-vaporize model.
Finally, Yukie Nakama, a TV drama queen whose film work has been on
the light comic side, exudes dynamism, passion and sensuality, as
though she prepped with the films of Zhang Ziyi. The usual strategy
for an actress in a superhero role is to butch up, either
successfully (Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider") or unconvincingly
(Aya Ueto in "Azumi"). Nakama never abandons her femininity, even
when she is being the fiery warrior. Conversely, she never loses
her steely ninja spirit, even as a woman in love.
She plays Oboro, a granddaughter of Ogen (Lily), the matriarch of
the Iga clan. Early in the story, she meets and falls in love with
Gennosuke, the son of Danjo Koga (Minoru Terada), the leader of the
Koga clan. Living in the remote mountains, these two clans have,
over the centuries, perfected the arts of ninjutsu (or shinobi),
which is far beyond the reach of mere mortals. They are also
ancestral rivals and, under the order of Hanzo Hattori (Yutaka
Matsushige), chief ninja to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, are forbidden
to exchange secret techniques -- not that they would anyway.
Seeking to consolidate Tokugawa rule and seeing the two clans as a
threat to it, a powerful Tendai priest and Tokugawa adviser,
Nankobo Tenkai (Renji Ishibashi), schemes to set them against each
other. He commands the two clans to each choose five champions who
will battle to the death. The survivor will be elevated in rank and
power.
Both Oboro and Gennosuke are selected as champions, but neither are
aware, at least initially, of each other's position. Also,
Gennosuke doubts the shogunate's good intentions and refuses to
take part in the contest. But when his comrades begin to fall, he
is forced into action. He cannot, however, bring himself to battle
at least one Iga warrior: Oboro.
The 10 contestants in this ultimate death match are radically
different from both the common run of humanity and each other, such
as the bizarro Saemon Kisaragi (Hoka Kino****a) of the Kogas, who
can change faces without cosmetic surgery, and the mysterioso
Yashamaru (Taku Sakaguchi) of the Igas, who is the long-haired
ninja equivalent of "The Incredibles' " Elastigirl.
The most memorable, however, are ones with the closest
relationships to the two principals, including the
lovely-but-creepy Kagero (Tomoka Kurotani), who is poison to her
enemies, but sweet on Gennosuke, and Tenzan Yakushi (Kippei
Shiina), a silver-haired ninja master who knows all and sees all,
including Oboro's conflicted heart.
For those less interested in the emotional interplay than the
action, "Shinobi" has much to offer beyond the usual wirework leaps
and bounds. Action director Yuji Shimomura has created fresh
variations on familiar ninja stunts that will have hard-core genre
fans doing "did I really see that?" takes.
"Shinobi" does not require shinbo (patience): It flies across the
screen and ends, after all the mayhem, with a poignant moment of
remembrance and hope. Super ninjas may not be forever, but love
endures.
The Japan Times: Sept. 30, 2005
