It's not especially deep, but it's a dark and disturbing chambara about a merciless samurai, Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai), who can and will, without hesitation kill anybody who challenges him with a sword. He sees himself as a force of karmic balance. The film starts off with him disposing of an old man praying for death. The film is based on a newspaper serial that began in the 1910s and continued for several decades. The story never really ended, and, likewise, the film, which only covers certain bits of the novel, has no resolution. This has often bothered people, but I think it works well. Whatever the case, even if the film doesn't satisfy you as a whole, there are a number of outstanding setpieces. Nakadai's being ambushed in the forest near the beginning. The battle in the snow, where Toshiro Mifune dispatches of a dozen or more attackers while Nakadai watches cautiously from the sidelines. And that final sequence is the mother of all rampages, where Nakadai goes apesh*t in a brothel. Tatsuya Nakadai is really a fantastic actor. I know, his performance here isn't particularly complex, but he is absolutely frightening in his infinite evil. Compare this to his overwhelming humanity in The Human Condition. Okamoto's direction is assured, and Hiroshi Murai provides some of the best black & white photography ever captured. The new Criterion disc is quite good. It is without extras, but the accompanying essay is a big help at putting the film and its source material in context.
Review of The Sword of Doom
