Ronin Gai
by Kazuo Kuroki
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eisei Amamoto, Moeko Ezawa, Takui Aoki, Takuya Fujisaki, Yoshio HaradaDirector: Kazuo Kuroki
Cinematographer: Hitoshi Takaiwa
Producer: Hisao Nabeshima
Writer: Itar? Yamagami
Writer: Kazuo Kasahara
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Homevision
Movie Reviews of Ronin Gai
Movie Review: Lame at best
Summary: 1 Stars
The one thing that got out of this film was, don't trust the amazon ratings. I am a avid fan of Japanese cinema and this film was a disappointment at every level. I can't think of a film that I liked less...I wanted to compare it to "Imprint" but it doesn't even stack up to that...and that's pretty sad.
Summary of Ronin Gai
Kazuo Kuroki's international award-winning period drama was produced in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the death of Shozo Makino, "the father of Japanese films." Set in the 1830s near the end of the age of the samurai, Ronin Gai is populated by an ensemble of colorful characters, social outcasts who patronize a restaurant and brothel on the outskirts of Edo. Among them are prostitutes and masterless samurai reduced to drunkenness and debauchery. The disgraced and disillusioned former warriors get a chance at redemption when renegade samurai invade the area to murder the prostitutes.A powerful remake of a popular jidai geki (period drama) that was first filmed in 1928, Ronin Gai also marks the final appearance of Shintaro Katsu, the Japanese actor best known for his title role in the long-lasting Zatoichi film series. Also known as Street of the Masterless Samurai, this intense chambera (swordplay) drama is set on the outskirts of Edo in the 1830s, where aimless Ronin waste what's left of their obsolete careers, drinking sake in a shabby restaurant where prostitutes provide cheap sex while hoping to marry out of their miserable fate. When a rogue band of the local shogun's retainers start slashing the prostitutes in a ruthless, self-righteous murder spree, the drunken samurai must sober up and retaliate, leading to a climactic showdown in which the traitorous bodyguard named Bull (played by Katso) gets a chance to redeem himself in true samurai fashion. Produced to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death of Japanese film pioneer Shozo Makino, Ronin Gai is primarily a tale of downtrodden people finding new purpose and hope amidst severe disadvantage, but director Kazuo Kuroki is equally adept with nihilist attitude and swift, bloody action sequences that are unflinchingly violent and not for the faint of heart. (Future cult director Takashi Miike served as assistant director here; he obviously learned from the experience.) Parallels to Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven are readily apparent, but Ronin Gai came first, and it's a must-see for fans of the samurai genre. --Jeff Shannon
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