THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)

As I may have mentioned earlier, this flick is a little bit of a cheat for me.  Back in the day I rented out a VHS of Shogun Assassin, which I recall being an incoherent but hilarious riot of gore.  And there’s a good reason for it being incoherent; it literally is the equivalent of those TV Movies made up of two episodes of a TV series stitched together, having condensed three films into one with emphasis on the admittedly ultraviolent sword fights.  Maybe somewhere out here in the wild frontiers of the internet is a review of that film in an issue of my old ‘zine, Sticky Carpet Digest--I’ve looked and I cannot find it (although apparently I’m quoted in a review of Infra-Man, which is cool, I guess).

Anyway, Shogun Assassin was made out of bits and bobs of the ‘Lone Wolf And Cub’ series produced by Katsu and distributed by Toho.  There are six of these, and the bulk of that film is apparently made out of this film.  I will admit to getting weird moments of deja-vu (see what I did there?) when certain shots popped up in this short, punchy little picture that mirrored my memories of that Americanized, Frankensteined product.  But what I also got are weird moments of grace and poetry that makes this feel like a much different picture.

The plot of this film is very slight--hell, I can see where that TV movie compilation vibe came from way back when, as it really does feel like a portion of a much longer narrative--and can be broken down into two set pieces: our hero Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) fends off a clan of female assassins led by Sayaka (Kayo Matsuo) while also trying to kill a traitor to a dye-making clan who is protected by three brothers who are collectively known as The Gods of Death.  It barely makes its 80 minute run time, and yet it has a kind of contemplative, laid back feel to it.  This movie is not interested in running like a modern action film is; it’s perfectly happy to stroll amiably.

The true strength of this film lies in Wakayama and Akihiro Tomikawa, who plays his son Diagoro.  Wakayama is an unlikely action star, even for the 70‘s--the man is positively doughy, with a face that belongs more on a baker than a samurai (I kept getting visions of John Belushi seeing this film and keeping it alive in the back of his head when it came time to create 'Samurai Deli')--but he provides a compelling central performance that grounds the film.  And since Tomikawa is frequently a blank slate, we’re left to infer what effect this brutal life is having on him.  There are several set pieces that rely on an enigmatic bond between the two that Just. Work.

The film was notorious for its violent fight scenes back in the day.  It seemed more violent to me when I saw Shogun Assassin decades ago, maybe because it had been cut to emphasize those fight scenes...but now they look at turns silly (the fountains of tempura paint that literally launch themselves across the screen every time a limb is severed) and...well, elegant (the way the blood slowly wells up from the ground when one of the ‘Gods of Death’ reveal an attacker’s hiding place).  The thing that strikes me though is how quick these fights are--literally in some cases, you blink and you miss a key moment in the choreography.  But the way director  Kenji Misumi is always contrasting these lightning-fast bits of gore with these elegiac grace notes gives the film an entirely unexpected flavor.

Even though the pacing and visual language of this film might seem alien to you, I would certainly recommend seeing it.  It’s very unique in and of itself, and it might open your eyes to a different approach towards admittedly over-the-top violence.

Hey!  Wanna Help Support This Blog And Get Cool Goodies In Return?  Then head on over to The Domicile of Dread Patreon Page and join me on my crusade to Make The World Stranger.  For as little as a dollar a month, you’ll get new fiction and exclusive essays.  Invest a bit more, and get other stuff including advance access to my new television podcast Thomas Deja’s Watching (coming soon from the Two True Freaks Podcast Network), the Patreon Exclusive Podcast Cinematic Mirage, movie commentaries...and even the chance to assign me articles that’ll be published on this very blog!