47 Ronin
My new Christmas tradition continued this year with a movie at the Arclight Hollywood. This year was not a tearjerker, thank goodness, and in fact, was a bonus movie for me in that my celebrity crush, the ever-dashing Keanu Reeves, happens be in one of the starring roles.
*swoon*
Of course, I enjoyed 47 Ronin. There’s a whole man on horseback sort of cowboyesque but not really thing going on early in the movie and a nice ass in a saddle is always a sight to behold. Then there’s the pirate shirt fight scene. For the love of all that is improper, the whole shipboard fight scene rivals the volleyball scene in Top Gun. Val Kilmer, good lord. Okay, this is not quite that. That was a masterpiece. But if there’s something about a man in a loose white shirt wielding a sword that hits you just the right way, you’re going to love this scene. Plus it was the best fight scene in the whole movie.
While I'm not terribly educated in Japanese culture (please read as "not at all educated in Japanese culture") there are a few seemingly random pieces of information that are lodged in my brain, incongruous though they may seem. There's something about usushi lacquer being poisonous if not cured properly and something else about, god help me, wabi sabi. I know natto beans are to stinky for me to even open the container much less eat. I know that dragons are real and fill any number of roles from fertility to warding evil. Yes, I said they're real and you better be nice to them because they believe in you and most of them think you're pretty tasty with a little shoyu. I've heard a tale about catching a catfish with a gourd that is either supposed to be funny or maybe philosophical. I'm thinking funny, the idea of splashing around in a river trying to catch a fish with a gourd, but that's just me.
Then there's the tale of the 47 Ronin.
This is not a fictional tale. I looked it up. Early in the 18th century a group of forty-seven samurai was left without their leader when he was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), thus making them ronin. And these men went on to avenge their master's death even though they were ordered not to by the Shogun. All the ins and outs of why this is an example of true honor and why they were then required to commit seppuku themselves and why they were okay with that and where they are buried and why there were only forty-six buried together and the forty-seventh was buried with them years later are for you to research on your own. Fascinating story, really. Truth is, as so often is proven, stranger and more interesting than fiction.
That's why the repeated fictionalization of this story over the years for stage, screen, television, and beyond is not surprising. I haven't seen any of these others. Don't know what they did with them, how faith they remained, or how much this Hollywood film is patterned on any one of them.
The mystical was left primarily to the witch (she was awesome by the way, even though I hate that the witch is always evil). So many opportunities missed!
So lets go with the fight scenes, they should be fuckin' awesome, right? Keanu's proven his abilities over the years. Add him to a cast of capable Japanese martial artists and this should have been stunning and gorgeous. But it was, I don't know, over edited. Instead of standing back and watching them fight and capturing the natural beauty and intensity in a master shot or use some of that CGI budget to enhance those scenes they chopped them to pieces and took your eye here and there and everywhere. It gave the impression that these guys were no good at this fighting thing. Terribly disappointing.
Has that stopped me from pre-ordering the DVD? Uh, no. God bless Amazon Prime.
That leads me to the music. The soundtrack for this film, composed by Ilan Eshkeri, is stunning. I've been listening to it almost non-stop since I bought it last Thursday. Some of it is haunting and the drumming rattles you to your core. Or at least rattles me to my core.
PS: Not a huge fan of 3D. Saw this in regular D. Suit yourself. One way or another, I say see this movie.
