Kiru
                                              
Director:  Kenji Misumi
Year: 1962
Rating: 7.5
Trans - Kill

Aka - Destiny's Son


Japan was embarking on an astonishing run of commercial Chambara films over the decade and director Kenji Misumi was at the forefront of it. These commercial samurai films were on a slightly different track than the more formal ones from directors like Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Gosha and Masaki Kobayashi. They shared much in common but many of the more formal samurai films were steeped in history and Japanese culture while the commercial ones were pulpier more sexual often based on a character that became part of a long running series with spurts of high body count action. Misumi had already directed the first two in The Satan's Sword films starring Raizô Ichikawa as an immoral and savage samurai. Over the next decade he was to direct many films in three of the biggest Chanbara series - Zatoichi, Sleepy Eyes of Death and Lone Wolf and Cub. He directed the first in the long-running Zatoichi series in this same year.



Kiru falls a bit between both of these samurai styles of film. It is beautifully shot with wonderful framing, vivid colors and smooth camera movement. The film has no story that runs through the film but is broken into the chapters of a samurai's life. One expects that it will become a film of revenge for the death of his mother, but instead it becomes one of honor, duty and tradition. There is action certainly, but it is the slow quiet moments that resonate more. Almost Zen-like at times.



Interestingly, the film is based on one of the novels by  Renzaburō Shibata in the Nemuri Kyōshirō series. Nemuri Kyōshirō is the Sleepy Eyes of Death films, but the character in this film is named Shingo Takakura and though he has certain characteristics in common with Kyoshiro, he is a different person with a different history. Three films with Tsuruta Kōji as that character had already been produced, so perhaps Misumi wanted to avoid being part of that series. Adding a bit to the confusion is that Shingo is played by Ichikawa Raizo who went on the next year to begin the Sleepy Eyes of Death series. Not that any of this really matters - just take the film for what it is - sometimes I like digging into the background of films.



In the opening scene, a maid kills her mistress in a fierce fight. This is in 1833 and then without explanation jumps 20-years into the future. Shingo is a young man - Raizo is nearly unrecognizable at this point he looks so fresh faced - and the son of a lower echelon samurai. He talks his father and the Lord of the Clan into letting him go off and travel for three years. Just lets the wind take him. Three years later he is back to his father and sister. The Clan has a fencing tournament against a well-skilled samurai from another Clan. It will be shameful if they all lose to him but one after another goes down to defeat with kendo sticks. Then the Lord calls for Shingo who wasn't even entered into the tournament. In a fascinating duel, Shingo picks a sword instead and the two face off against each other and stare and Shingo points his sword at the man's neck - an unorthodox style - this facing each other goes on for a minute or two before the other samurai nearly breaks down under the pressure. Without a sword being swung.  Very unexpected.



Not long afterwards, a jealous neighbor kills Shingo's father and sister - but before dying the father has a lengthy confession that could fill a book. I am not your real father, you are adopted, your mother (the killer in the first scene) was executed but not before having you and your father is the man who executed her. This was all part of political maneuvering within the Ida Clan. A lot to take in for the young man - but first he has to kill the neighbors and begin his journey through life as he becomes a wandering Ronin. Various chapters play out - none of them really connected - in looks he begins to appear like the Raizo of Sleepy Eyes - always honorable, always loyal, always deadly. This only runs 71-minutes which honestly is a shame. It is so artful and beautiful to watch. It is the first film in what has come to be called Misumi's Sword Trilogy - the other two being Kan (1964) and Kenki (1965) all with Raizo in them.