Fantasy fun from director Yojiro Takita, but seriously, it’s no When The Last Sword is Drawn…
In Edo period Japan, the Demon Slayers are all that stands between the destruction of mankind and the return of the ultimate evil, Ashura. The race is on between good and evil to track her down before she awakes and her castle raises from the sky.
Blissfully unaware of the world’s impending doom, Izumo (Somegoro Ichikawa) has left the life of the Demon Slayers behind him after he accidentally killed an innocent young girl, having since become a success as a kabuki player. But when his path crosses with the beautiful Tsubaki (Rie Miyazawa, Tony Takitani, The Twilight Samurai, Peony Pavilion) – a member of a girl gang of rooftop scaling (but generally harmless) thieves – he finds himself drawn into the mystery, and back into the Demon Slaying game.
And even Izumo’s ex-colleague Jaku (Atsuro Watabe, Three… Extremes) has betrayed his master and the Slayers, and teamed up with the other side, a particularly nasty demon called Bizan (Kanako Higuchi, Casshern, Zatoichi ‘89) who dresses as a Buddhist nun.
But where is this evil, and does it have anything to do with the strange, glowing tattoo on Tsubaki’s sholder? (Does it heck!) Yep, it’s that old story once again: Boy meets girl, girl turns out to be source of ultimate evil, boy faces difficult choice…
You can’t help but wonder if director Yojiro Takita worried about being taken too seriously after his acclaimed When The Last Sword is Drawn. Where as that film strayed into drama echoing the style and themes of Yôji Yamada’s earlier, Oscar nominated Twilight Samuari, Ashura is pure frippery, a rollercoaster ride that has more in common with Shaw Brothers and 80s fantasy movies – think Buddha’s Palm, Legend Of The 8 Samurai, Sword and the Sorcerer, Krull and even Ghostbusters!
And what a fun ride it is. Seemingly fuelled by the success of Buffy in recent years, the film references all sorts of movies: from Crouching Tiger style chases over rooftops, to 60s Samuari/Shaw Brothers style bloodletting – only this time the blood glows green. It also references Ronny Yu’s The Bride With White Hair, actually lifting as a scene or two (such as the lovers fighting in mid-air), though it’s no where near as successful or beautiful a film.
Despite the impressive use of effects, nearly all the film is contained within large studio sets, adding to the impression it could have been filmed twenty years ago, not last year. The direction and cinematography is pretty good, occasionally coming into it’s owen, such as when Izumo fight his way through demons in the Esher-esque castle of Ashura, but often feels restricted by long, stagy diatribes within closed confines. Which isn’t surprising really, when you consider the films origins as a stage play called ‘Blood Gets In My Eyes’. Of course, where a play can have fun referencing films of the past, the act of turning it back into a film often makes them look hackneyed and perhaps too obvious.
The part of Jaku, well played by Atsuro Watabe, brilliantly cuts through the deliberate ludicrousness of the story, by actually verbalising exactly what the audience is thinking. Until the over blown (and over long) conclusion swing the whole effort rather uncomfortably into melodrama. Just get on with it!
Another irritation is that sometimes the dialogue is so flippant that it just doesn’t make sense within the Edo context. For instance, Izumo constantly refers to having taken Tsubaki’s ‘case’ – like all of a sudden he’s a private dick in a film noir? Admittedly, this could just be down to the translation of the film.
If anything, it’s almost like an old episode of Monkey, except with a lot more money spent on it – though the demons in Monkey definitely looked better! You can quite imagine Godeigo tuning up on the soundtrack at the end with ‘Monkey Magic’ and ‘Gandhara’. In fact, it’s actually even more bizarre – with Sting warbling his way through ‘My Funny Valentine’. (Perhaps the UK distributors of the DVD, Yume Pictures, were hoping this would make the perfect Valentine’s day gift?)
Ashura sure is fun, as long as you don’t expect anything like When The Last Sword is Drawn.
DVD details
Distributor:Yume Pictures (UK)
Yume have made the film more widely available with their UK release. Sadly I can’t comment on the quality of the transfer, but it's rudimentary extras and cheap price will make up for the lack of the additional stage version, available elsewhere.
