A review of the Japanese film “Blade Of The Immortal”
Apparently Japanese director Takashi Miikwe now has a hundred movies to his credit but I’ve only previously seen one of them: “13 Assassins”. Like “13 Assassins”, “Blade Of The Immortal” is a stylish bloodfest – if that’s not an oxymoron – set in the Edo period of Japanese history (1603-1868), but this film tells a much more personal story, namely the relationship between a tormented samurai called Manji (Takuya Kimura) and the girl to whom he becomes bodyguard Rin who reminds him of his dead sister Machi (both played by Hana Sugisaki).
The reason for Manji survivability – and also his despair – is that, as explained in a black and white prologue, he has been infected by bloodworms which heal his wounds so that he cannot die. The growing friendship between Manji and Rin reminded me of the film “Leon”, but the deathtoll in this tale is many times more, with the blade of the title slashing into bodies and cutting off limbs with great speed and fluidity.
This is not a film to everyone’s taste and at 140 minutes it is somewhat overlong, but for me it was the perfect cinematic escapism between two challenging meetings on a cold December day.