Watching Dragon, Hidden Growler - Film Reviews

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< Dragon Tiger Gate | The Promise (Wu Ji) >

All films are stories. Told by writers, directors and many other creative people. Whether the movies are British, Hollywood, Bollywood or from wherever in the world. I find many Chinese and East Asian films very innovative and highly entertaining. Here are a few I'd like to share.

Rawle Austin presents...

Geisha Assassin - A Review

Since their beginnings, Geisha's have also been trained in martial arts as well as hospitality. That is the premise behind this amazing movie. I have to admit that the title seemed like a bad cliche but I was unexpectedly blown away with the overall execution of the story. Director Go Ohara really excelled himself with this work.

Miss Kotono is the geisha, played by actress Minami Tsukui, who is looking for justice by apprehending her father's killer. Her father was a master swordsman and trained her as a child. She witnessed his death at the hand of one of his former students. She faces the killer early on but he escapes and puts various obstacles, martial arts masters, in her path.

I was struck by the intimate sets and feel. It was mostly close up and though visibly low budget, it was a quality production. I loved the cool way she manually changed her costume from geisha style to fighting style. It really changed the tone of the film as we saw her shift in mentality from victim to fighter. Basically using her old garments to make a more practical outfit. Great to see.

I'm a big fan of anime and this film used the style to great effect. The movement during the battles was perfect and impressed me with its fluidity. Her adversaries were various characters with different powers and fighting styles along the way produced some very stylish fights. Including fighting monks, and numerous chararcters. Each with a great costume and fighting style. A lot of effort went into choreographing the one on one battles. Miss Kotono, the Geisha pulls them off effortlessly in a way that looks instantly dynamic. One scene where she meets a dream master who summons zombies to combat her is particularly inventive. This has all the hallmarks of an anime film and is truly a live action version of the genre.

Click here to check out Geisha Assassin [DVD]  

The beautiful scene settings showed that this movie was well thought out and looked fantastic. Sunrises gave way to lush forests to huge boulders over rocky terrain which were a feast for the eyes. Miss Kotono the Geisha has to survive in the forest throughout her journey and we see her hardiness and adaptability along the way. The ending was very satisfying and the cast gave admirable performances.

The film is told in Japanese with English subtitles and I give it seven out of ten.

< Dragon Tiger Gate | The Promise (Wu Ji) >

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