Film

ICHI

Name: ICHI
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Released: 2008
Cast: Haruka Ayase, Yosuke Kubozuka, Takao Osawa, Shido Nakamura, Tetta Sugimoto

Martial arts action

A blind wanderer travels 19th-century Japan seeking her childhood guardian, armed with a concealed blade and formidable sword skills. Takashi Miike's 2008 film weaves intimate character drama with sudden, balletic violence. It's meditative and contemplative until it isn't—a character study that explodes. For lovers of samurai cinema who want something off the beaten path.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like wandering-swordsman stories given a fresh twist, where a vulnerable-looking wanderer's stillness hides lethal precision and the sound of a guitar carries the mood.

Skip it if you want brisk, uninterrupted action, since the swordplay arrives in bursts between long stretches of travel and talk, and the plot can feel loosely strung together.

What it asks of you: Two hours at an unhurried pace, with long quiet passages of travel, a steady undercurrent of tension, and violence that erupts suddenly and then ends.

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If you liked this

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance poster

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Kurosawa's epochal work. The template for ensemble action films. Three and a half hours that move like music. If you haven't seen it, now is the time.

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