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Price: £19.99 Discs: 1 Language: Japanese (English Subtitles) Picture: 1.85:1 anamorphic Sound: DTS Digital Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Extras: Original trailer and Jonathan Crocker’s film notes. The Hidden Blade may look like another Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero, but it’s not. First off, there is no tree ballet. Secondly, The Hidden Blade focuses on a small community in 19th century feudal Japan who don’t set out to save the empire, or save the planet, but to make the right decisions. Morality plays a huge part in this film, and the realities of warfare, caste systems and loneliness are the obstacles that must be overcome. Munezo Katagiri lives in a small village with his sister, his friends Samon and Yaichiro and his family’s maid, Kie, whom he likes but cannot marry due to social proprieties. The film begins with the group saying goodbye to Yaichiro as he leaves for Tokyo. As the Samurai way of life begins its movement towards becoming simply a tradition, military leaders in the capital send a specialist to the village to train warriors in the new military ways. The sword is becoming replaced by the gun and all that is natural is becoming the past. Munezo becomes caught up between defending tradition, loving Kie and facing a person now revealed to be the new enemy: Yaichiro. The Hidden Blade is a beautifully constructed film, which deftly communicates the themes that lie deep at the heart of Japanese heritage. Feudal Japan looks authentic – not the cardboard cut-outs of the more Hollywoodised samurai epics. The colours are muted and dreamy and the harsh realities of Munezo’s life are depicted with clarity and dexterity through precise camerawork. Despite being a film of technical and emotional prowess, The Hidden Blade lacks a spark which might have set audiences alight. Perhaps the Japanese epics have been overdone, or perhaps with the choice of so much wuxia-pian (the flying swordsman genre), a down-to-earth Samurai tale of morality is too ephemeral to be snapped up. Or perhaps the swashbuckling excitement of Munezo’s story is overpowered by the meditative cinematography and music. The Hidden Blade may be too slow for the story it tells, but the visuals will keep you watching. Meandering along, but never stalling, the movie contains much of what is so lacking in Japanese cinema at the moment: morals.
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