Zatoichi
ZATOICHI
(c) 2003 BANDAI VISUAL, TOKYO FM, DENTSU, TV ASAHI, SAITO ENTERTAINMENT / OFFICE KITANO
(c) 2003 BANDAI VISUAL, TOKYO FM, DENTSU, TV ASAHI, SAITO ENTERTAINMENT / OFFICE KITANO
- Release Date
- September, 6th, 2003
- Running Time
- 116 min
- Genre
- Feature
- Color
- Color
- Screening Format
- 35mm
[ Directed by ]
[ Produced by ]
[ Cast ]
- BEAT Takeshi ── Zatoichi
- ASANO Tadanobu ── Hattori Gennosuke
- OGUSU Michiyo ── Aunt Oume
[ Staff ]
- SAITO Chieko ── Executive Producer
- KITANO Takeshi ── Screenplay
- SHIMOZAWA Kan ── Original Story
- YANAGIJIMA Katsumi ── Cinematography
- KITANO Takeshi ── Editor
- SUZUKI Keiichi ── Music
[ Production Company ]
OFFICE KITANO, BANDAI VISUAL, TOKYO FM, DENTSU, TV Asahi, Saito Entertainment
[ Story ]
This Venice Film Festival Silver Lion-winning film from director Kitano Takeshi was a box-office hit in Japan.
A blonde masseur named Zatoichi (Beat Takeshi) arrives in a sleepy inn town at the same time as ronin Hattori Gennosuke (Asano Tadanobu). The town is actually controlled by the Ginzo yakuza clan. Hattori is looking for a job as a bodyguard to support his ailing wife, while Zatoichi helps out a poor vegetable seller being extorted by the Ginzos and accepts her kind offer of lodging. While drinking at the local bar, Hattori happens to display his swordsmanship while the Ginzos are collecting money from the owner and secures a job as their bodyguard. One night Zatoichi incites a bloodbath after being cheated at the local gambling den, leading to an inevitable showdown with Hattori. After life-and-death duels with both Hattori and Ginzo, he finds out the real head of the clan is the old owner of the bar. After ridding the town of its corruption and gangs, Zatoichi wanders to the next rest stop.
[ Contact (International) ]
OFFICE KITANO INC.
Film Production Division
5F, 5-4-14 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052
Rep: MORI Masayuki
Attn: NAKAHASHI Aya, NAKANO Junichi
tel: +81 3 5572 7099
fax: +81 3 3589 0667
http://www.office-kitano.co.jp
