Lurid 1970’s Samurai Cinema
I finished up the sixth, and final, Lone Wolf and Cub film last night. I am in awe of these films. They are somehow adjacent to both El Topo and Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetary Man), but also Sanjuro, Once Upon a Time in the West, and … Troma? 🤷♀️
Extremely difficult to describe without spoiling, they build on one another in ways both subtle and overt, such that I have to recommend the series as a whole as one art object. (Though, the structure of the fifth film should be called out as particularly interesting).
I watched one a week for six weeks, and that ended up feeling just right: close enough in time to one another to catch the visual and narrative rhymes, but not so close as to wear the repetitions bare .
Best Film Series ever?
Well, certainly my favorite yet!
Lurid 1970’s Samurai Cinema
Sigh. I didn’t know where to turn next.
The Samurai series?
Zatoichi?
The Criterion Channel is an embarrassment or riches.
So, naturally, I had to pivot: #WhoRulesTheWorld on Netflix. Twenty-eight hours of will-they-won’t-they #wuxia dramatics, complete with proto-ninjas and questionable child actors. Also, roast duck.
