Jipangu (Zipang, 1992)

Hayashi Kaizo

Japan

95 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

A mildly entertaining fantasy-period film with a somewhat non-subtle message. "When two love each other, the anger of the gods is powerless" (or something). This sumptuously filmed romp reminds a little of the classic Japanese tales about the conflict between gods and man.

This time, the King of Zipang (which, as one will recall from the writings of Marco Polo is really his far-fetched version of Japan) has fallen in love with a mortal woman (Wanibuchi Haruko) who is predictably in love with another mortal (Ken Shu), aka "the ancient warrior." The film opens with a confused black and white sequence in which the ancient warrior is killed by the god.

A thousand years later, a merry band of outlaws is looking for ways to score some easy money, preferably by finding some hidden treasure. A beautiful bounty hunter, Yuri "The Pistol" (Yasuda Narumi), is after their leader, the dashing swordsmaster Jigoku (Takashima Masahiro). Instead of his head, she takes his heart, as he steals hers too. However, when the band uncovers the hidden treasure, it turns out to be a golden sword, and when Jigoku removes it from its resting place, the ancient warrior awakens and begins his quest for his long-lost beloved. At the same time, the Shogun has ordered his high-tech ninjas to recover the sword for him so he can conquer Zipang.

As the love story between Jigoku and Yuri develops, they help the ancient warrior find his queen and rescue her, defeating the god of gold in the process. As mentioned before, this is the "gods are helpless before human love" bit, a much loved, if somewhat meaningless, statement.

As a swordplay film, Zipang is ok but nothing exceptional. (One has to love the tongue-in-cheek though as Jigoku obliterates several well-known characters from classic chambara films, such as Zatoichi.) The visuals, on the other hand, are quite impressive, with lavish production and a lot of ambition. The anachronisms (e.g. the ninja binoculars that also take pictures) can be funny, if a little confusing. Hayashi tries to mix far too many genre with lacklustre results. I, for one, thought that the parody of chambara films was out of place and diminshed some of the drama potential. The weighty monologue of the god at the end did not sit well with the zany action that preceded it.

The Pagan DVD is very nice, with a clean crisp transfer, nice audio, and bright subtitles. There are very few extras on the disc: apart from the still gallery, there's a very brief cast/crew info. Perhaps we should not expect more for such a film.

October 28, 2002