Zipang

The Edo era - a long vanished, exotic time when survival was founded on strength and cunning. The charismatic Jigokugo-kurakumaru is a brilliant illustration of the age: a master with his sword, vulnerable only in love. On the run with a gang of bounty hunters hard on his heels, he finds a golden sword, the key to a myth-enshrouded kingdom of Zipang, and is projected into an adventure on the borderline between dream and reality.

Comment:
The formidable Samurai master Jigokugokurakumaru will gladly take the lives of more ninjamen per minute than there are letters to his surname. But, after sucessfully massacring a hundred or so dissidents, our soft-scented Samurai falls head over heels in love with Pistol Lily, the lovely heroine of the film. And so good vanquishes evil in this modern, strip-cartoon-like computer game fairytale, which allows itself to be inspired by everything from Spielberg's Indiana Jones, Leone's spaghetti westerns, Bruce Lee, the Wizard of OZ and Tarzan to more traditional japanese films. Best of all is the magnificent choreography, as well as Hayashi's fabulous orgies of cutting and breakneck dolly shots. On these points even MTV could learn a lot.

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