Go Ohara, the action director of Japanese cult flicks DEATH TRANCE and CHANBARA BEAUTY, makes his solo directing debut with GEISHA ASSASSIN (aka GEISHA VS. NINJA). This low-budget period actioner sees newcomer Minami Tsukui as a sword-fighting geisha on a mission to avenge her father’s death. Through an incomprehensible plot involving a series of expositional flashbacks and matches with ninjas, fighting monks and head-popping ogres, Minami stays ever one step away from her father’s supposed killer until, finally having cut her way through all of her other opponents, she arrives at a final confrontation and revelation about her father’s relationship to her enemies, along with ill-defined reference to a special sword.
The film is an underdeveloped, soulless mess of hollow characters, cheap art direction and clumsy, clichéd action choreography and editing. The only redeeming quality is Minami Tsukui, a fighting actress who consistently displays a high degree of athleticism, spunk and screen fighting potential akin to SISTER STREET FIGHTER starlet Etsuko Shihomi.
GEISHA ASSASSIN is the sort of action movie clearly designed to appeal to action and martial arts movie fans first and foremost. The excessive gore, sex and sleaze of other recent low-budget actioners from Japan such as TOKYO GORE POLICE and SAMURAI PRINCESS is largely absent and in their place are generous amounts of fighting action, frequently with long takes involving protracted weapons and open-hand dueling. Although plentiful and featuring an energetic performance from the lead, the action is lacking the same style and substance that the rest of the film is.
The chanbara, or chambara genre got its name from the sound of swords clanking together. Go Ohara takes this aspect of Japanese sword fighting to absurd lengths with ridiculous amounts of metal striking metal. Whole fights degenerate into a flurry of flashing swords striking one another with a cacophony of shrill sounds. The fights in GEISHA ASSASSIN look a lot like early Donnie Yen-directed skirmishes in Hong Kong actioners such as LEGEND OF THE WOLF, which were low on finesse and high on undercranked barrages of twirling metal weapons striking each other like colliding ceiling fans.
The fighting looks far less like classic samurai and chambara action and more like modern, high-flying video game action minus the sweeping visual effects. Wirework is used in places and despite the main character’s samurai training, she frequently relies on unarmed fist strikes and kicking.
Minami Tsukui is at her best when she isn’t wielding a sword at all, especially during an unarmed duel with a Zen monk. Go Ohara shoots the two in one uncut sequence that is nearly 30 seconds long. That may not seem like much but Tsukui and her male co-star work in 28 moves in that time. Some of it may have been improvised as this sequence has the loose look of a free sparring session but it’s far more interesting to watch than other scenes that are chopped up and sprinkled with ineffectual close-ups of swords striking each other or nicking flesh.
As an action director Ohara is inconsistent. Some of his scenes are competently put together and others look rushed or out of control and amateurish. For instance, he takes the time to insert welcome establishing shots, character poses and scenic transitions or pauses and yet spoils other scenes with poor lighting, gratuitous action replays and slow motion during sequences and movements that are generally mundane. Add this to the frequent flashbacks and the impression forms that Mr. Ohara is relying far too much on insubstantial filmmaking gimmickry to stitch his scenes together. It’s certainly no way to make a name for yourself in a genre bloated with convention.
Many of the film’s flaws could have been overlooked had the pacing remained steady. The first half of the film is incomprehensible plot-wise but at least provides a steady stream of fast-paced fighting action pitting the “geisha” against a variety of colorful, if all too familiar foes. Then, after a wacky dream sequence where Minami battles acrobatic monsters with the ability to remove their own heads and send them spinning at her as flying projectiles, the momentum gets sucked out of the narrative by way too many uninteresting flashbacks involving her dead father, an overlong fight with a female warrior in tribal garb and dull chatter with her nemesis.
The biggest disappointment about GEISHA ASSASSIN is the wasted opportunity of its premise. The idea of a fighting geisha performer is sound and could have provided the basis for an excellent movie, or even a series. Yet there is virtually no tangible suggestion that the main character actually is a geisha apart from her colorful costume. She never plays an instrument or performs. It would have been ideal to see the character integrate a fighting style with her performance skills. There is none of that, just another poorly implemented gimmick.
DVD – Well Go USA
Well Go USA’s DVD release is serviceable. The 16×9 presentation doesn’t quite fill a digital monitor but image and audio quality are decent. Removable English subtitles are large and easy to read. The only bonus feature is the inclusion of the international trailer that promotes the film under its original English title, GEISHA VS. NINJA. What I don’t understand is why anyone would want to pay the suggested retail price of $19.98 for this movie. It’s possibly worth a rental, at best a Walmart $5 bin purchase.
Well Go has previously released licensed Shaw classics to barebone DVD packages. While they do have more on the way, they seem to be broadening out with more random and troubling acquisitions of lousy genre product. They’re next release is going to be SHAOLIN GRANDMA, another recent Japanese “action” movie that’s worse than GEISHA ASSASSIN. It’s like they’re choosing the bottom-of-the-barrel Japanese titles that Media Blasters and AnimEigo won’t touch. Well Go could serve genre fans better by digging up some of Japan’s many 1960s and ’70s-era action TV and film properties that have yet to be released in the U.S.
Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Length: 78 minutes
Release Date: 2008.05.05
Related Topics:
chambara • Geisha Assassin (2008) • Go Ohara • jidai geki • ninja
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