Cute Girls and Samurai Swords

Aya Ueto.

I'd love to plaster this entry with pictures of Aya Ueto, pretty Japanese idol singer/model/actress (and a decent one at that!), but I don't have the bandwidth to do it. Anyway, today we'll be talking about two movies where she starred in. Two movies that had her slash her way through a good number of gentlemen. What am I talking about?



Azumi, of course. (I don't see her slashing people in, say, Install, do you?.) Based on Yu Koyama's manga, it's about this orphaned girl who was trained from a young age to kill people. Her trainer was a battle-hardened samurai who wanted wars and stuff to end, because his son got killed in one skirmish. Along with a number of other youths like her, Azumi's first mission is to kill three feudal lords. When the three lords are dead, the Tokugawa, the clan Azumi is working for, will gain absolute power on all Japan.

For such a movie with the potential for loads of action, who better to choose than Ryuhei Kitamura? The man behind the cult hit Versus can do a film like this - and he does it in style, with all the markings of his trademark filmmaking style - fast shots, twirling camerawork, over-the-topness galore, blood and gore everywhere. The sheer number of dead bodies surpasses the body counts in Kill Bill volumes one and two combined. Not to mention that the person doing all the killing is ironically (?) cute. There's nothing that beats the orgasmic feeling of seeing this person flip back her cloak with flair and draw her sword while rushing towards 200 bad guys. Mad propz goes to Jo Odagiri for his portrayal of Bijomaru, an effeminate, psychotic swordfighter who enjoys nothing more than fighting and killing.

There are a few problems, though. Aya Ueto, as cute as she is, does not fully convince me of her skill with the sword, especially in the last climactic battle with one gazillion people. It kinda detracted from the scene as a whole. I wish there were more effects like people getting their hands sliced off or something.

That's probably the only major thing I can think of. There isn't anything arty or heavy-handed here, it's just a crazy little chambara film that manages to entertain for 2 hours.

But the story doesn't end here yet. By the end of Azumi the mission isn't over, not by a long shot, and that leads us to...



Azumi 2: Death or Love

This was one of the most anticipated action movies of the year, and while it delivers to some extent, it isn't without its flaws. Firstly it suffers a bit without the direction of Ryuhei Kitamura. It doesn't have that flair the first movie had. The direction of the movie went into the capable hands of Shusuke Kaneko, veteran director whose works include some movies in the Gamera series. Kaneko handles the film well, but that flair, well, it's gone.

Chiaki Kuriyama almost steals the spotlight as Kozue, as she tries to out-cute her fellow actress and does a really nice performance. Aya Ueto is a bit thinner this time around. Has she lost weight? She also manages to give a more convincing fighting performance this time, probably due to the different nature of the fights.

This movie focuses more on the characters of the story and continues some of the estabilshed themes in the first Azumi, although that may not be as evident as it should be. This is, after all, an action movie in essence.

There was also something else missing from this one - a sountrack worthy of the first one. The soundtrack for the first Azumi was pounding, desperate, exciting - and it helped push forward the narrative. After seeing this one I asked myself where the soundtrack was. I can't even remember one musical phrase used in the movie.

All in all, this is a great way to spend a weekend afternoon with your buddies. If not for the action, then at least for Aya Ueto. Well, if you dig her killing people with the blood of her dead enemies splattered on her face. Hehe.