Hey folks, Harry here... if you remember the trailer I posted a link to a whiles back, you'll begin drooling again... and from the sound of things from SPYder... it is a pretty damn good flick and has a distributor for theatrical release here in the U.S!!!! Yippee!!!! Hopefully it'll be here in Austin soon playing at the Alamo Drafthouse.... Hint Hint Hint!!!
Hail to you, Head Geek.
SPYder, here. Fresh from a screening of “The Princess Blade,” here in Cannes. I know you’ve already posted a link to the trailer and one review already, so I’ll skip to the new info.
“The Princess Blade” has been acquired for the US by a company called “ADV” (AD Video-something). They are planning on a theatrical release, most likely on the art house circuit. ADV will also be releasing a DVD of the movie. I don’t have timing on the theatrical release, but keep your eyes open for it.
If you’re interested in one more review, keep reading…
The first reviewer was pretty solid on the basics. The film looks good, and the action is tight and novel; there just wasn’t enough of it. There is a bit of business in the second act with character development that slows down the pace considerably, but works on screen. It will probably catch on with the “Iron Monkey” crowd, and do better on DVD than it does theatrically.
The film looks very good, with very dramatic and picturesque locations. Those locations change very abruptly, going from desert to green fields to abandoned mines to lush forests in the blink of an eye; you don’t mind too much because it looks so visually appealing.
Directed by Shinsuke Sato, “The Princess Blade” is the story of Yuki, played by Yumiko Shaku, the princess in a clan who were previously guardians of a now-defunct monarch in an unnamed country in a bleak future. Fallen from their noble graces, the Takemikamuchi clan (which I am pretty sure I have spelled incorrectly) are now sword-bearing assassins for hire, feared across the land for their prowess and ferocity.
The story opens on a hit that shows the assassins in action. A decent chunk of it is actually in the trailer that AICN linked to a couple weeks ago. We get to see the assassins in action and the scene sets the tone for the rest of the picture. From there, Yuki has to track down one of their own ranks who flees the clan, a trek that leads her to the discovery of the identity of the assassin who killed her mother and sets Yuki on a journey of self-discovery and revenge. The world in which she lives is a bleak and desolate place, mired in a “quiet stagnation” according to the opening narration. As an assassin, Yuki has had to bury her own emotions and desires all her life. Rediscovering those emotions and deciding her direction in this world are part of her emotional journey.
Along the way, Yuki meets Takashi (played by Hideaki Ito), a member of some kind of underground resistance to whatever establishment runs the country. They end up helping each other’s emotional journeys, with only slight impacts on their respective plot-lines.
The only complaints I had with “The Princess Blade” were minor ones, stemming from the differences in story sensibility common between American and Eastern story-telling. There are some things that could have been more tightly woven in the story, some ends that I was thinking might be tied up and that would have been if “The Princess Blade” were an American movie. Of course, it’s not. It’s Japanese and the plot and character arcs reflect the culture from which it comes. You have to respect that, and go along for the ride.
The device of setting the story in an un-named location at an unknown time is one that seems pretty common in Japanese video games as well as in their movies and animé. That device is one that has fascinated me personally, as it forces the audience to focus on the story in front of them; unfortunately, it also has a slightly disoriented effect on Western audiences who expect a little more info to fill in the blanks. Sometimes filling in these blanks helps to better explain the motivation of various characters in the story. In the case of “The Princess Blade” the “nameless country” device works fairly well, but it does leave certain gaps that could have been filled in to help elaborate on the motivation of the supporting characters.
That said, “The Princess Blade” was pretty good, overall. Enjoy the action, and brace yourself for the slower character development sequences with Yuki and Takashi.
SPYder, out.
