Movie Recommendation- The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi

THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI (2003)
Apparently, the word “reboot” doesn’t only get used in and around Hollywood.  In Japan, between 1962 and 1989, there were 26 films made about a blind swordsman named Zatoichi who traveled from town to town, pretending to be a gentle and harmless masseur and then using his sword skills to protect the innocent from evil.  He was essentially like the television version of the Hulk, except he couldn’t see and he gave people massages.  In 2003, a new Zatoichi film, released in America under the title The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, was made, directed by and starring the incomparable and wonderful director/actor Takeshi Kitano.  His version, despite being glossy and expensive-looking, also contains his trademark mix of oddball charm and varsity-level violence.  In between geysers of blood spatter, the film veers toward becoming a full-blown musically on some occasions. No one makes films like Takeshi Kitano. Even when he takes on a franchise as established as Zatoichi, his roguish exuberance breaks through the surface.