Kojiro (1967)

directed by Hiroshi Inagaki

Japan

151 minutes

4 stars out of 5

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I wanted to see this so badly and for so long that I bought it on DVD. Massive, massive shoutout to Merlin David at samuraidvd.com for actually getting it in specially for me. His website is an amazing resource not only for the preservation of some very obscure films but also for just finding that one movie you have a burning desire to see. And not only samurai films! Some of Toho's excellent crime movies of the late '50s to mid '60s are there as well, and highly recommended.

As usual, I'm going to give my disclaimer that I do not know much about this particular era of history. I'm mostly reviewing this because the only other review of it I can find simply says "It's an Inagaki movie, so it's just vaguely dull". I have, however, seen Inagaki's masterful Samurai trilogy, in which Sasaki Kojiro plays a small but integral part, so I am familiar with him in that context. This film is fully about him, beginning when he leaves his unsatisfying life in a town too small to fulfill his ambitions as a swordsman. He has ties to his old life, particularly a woman, Tone, who wants and intends to follow him, but is kidnapped along the way. This is pretty much the "Everybody Hates Kojiro" show - except women, who seem quite fond of him - which is interesting, because we as viewers know that Kojiro's boasts have merit, and so to us a certain measure of his arrogance is forgivable, but to everyone around him, he's just this upstart from nowhere who shirks established methods of swordfighting for his own personal style. Typically we like to see arrogant young men get their comeuppance; in this case Kojiro's bravado is a part of his personality. He is presented as being too good for everyone around him and that's what makes them all hate him - again, this is not unusual for a protagonist, blessed by the light of the almighty Plot shining upon them, but typically they are unaware of their ability. Kojiro knows he's good and is determined to show it off.

I do take some issue with calling this movie dull, even though as a pretty big Inagaki fan I can do nothing but agree that frequently his movies are quite dull. But there's enough intrigue in Kojiro wandering from place to place, getting invested in something only to have his heart broken time and again, and eventually walk away with a renewed determination to literally live by the sword. Crucially, I found the characters in this to be far more interesting than in many of the other films from this director that I have seen. Kikunosuke Onoe does an excellent job playing Kojiro; he has a very youthful appearance, but the way he talks gives the impression that he can back up his boasts of swordfighting prowess. The people around him are individually interesting as well and Inagaki is very deliberate in establishing how everyone Kojiro brushes up against leaves a mark on his life, no matter how small.

I thought it was particularly interesting how many of the people Kojiro learns from are women. He himself is an orphan, from a lower place in society than the typical swordsman, and so shares something of the same station with women in that time period - this, I think, was why he associated with them and was able to relate to them more. Possibly my favorite character in this whole thing was a Ryukyuan princess who Kojiro briefly strikes up a romance (?) with. It's extremely rare to see anybody but mainland Japanese people in films like this, and even though the princess' portrayal is well within the lines of what was considered acceptable at the time (I.E. I'm not saying this is some triumph of decolonialism; the princess is still fairly a stereotype), I very much enjoyed seeing a woman who is in full control of her own destiny. She teaches Kojiro something about fighting vs. protecting oneself - before her, he didn't even seem to have considered that you can practice martial arts for any reason other than person-to-person combat. The princess's mastery of personal self-defense surprises him, as does her confident and outgoing manner. She has her own life, though, and eventually the two part.

He also ends up living with a dancer for a while, who is somewhat similar to him in that she leaves an unfulfilling life and strict teacher, but still holds onto a passion, in this case for dance. It should be noted that even though there are more women in this film and they have more to say and do than probably 99% of samurai films I've seen, they are still largely just stepping stones for the hero, and their fates have less to do with themselves than with motivating Kojiro in some way. To be fair, though, that's the way it is with most everyone else in the film, not just women. The dancer is there and provides comfort and support for him right up until it makes for more drama for her to accidentally kill herself. I do genuinely think the way this movie treats women is interesting and I could say more about it but I should probably end this diversion here before I go on for too long.

As a two-and-a-half-hour film, it does lag a bit in the middle, but is still supported by good characters and a variety of backdrops for Kojiro to do his soul-searching in. Eventually he encounters Miyamoto Musashi, his much more famous opponent, who is played in this case by Tatsuya Nakadai. Now, we of course know that Kojiro loses their duel. This is explored in the Samurai trilogy and to far, far better effect - but this is Kojiro's story, not the story of Musashi or of the duel between the two. That being said, though, I can't stop thinking about the ending of this movie and how strange of a thing it is. We know where it's going the whole time if we know anything at all about this story, and so the end is one of the least important parts of the film as it simply represents a dramatic conclusion to the life we have just watched a two-plus hour chronicle of. But it's just so... it's so weird. In the trilogy, their duel is presented (if I recall correctly) as a kind of inevitability and almost a one-sided thing, where Musashi knows he will easily win, and Kojiro seems to understand that it will be his own doom, but both of them enter into the fight anyway out of a sense of duty. It is incredibly compelling, faceted, and tragic, and is why the trilogy are some of my favorite films. The sunset duel is iconic, it can't be replicated, even by the same director. None of that establishing atmosphere is present here because the fight is so laconic. If you don't know any background, it could even be extremely funny, because this guy shows up out of nowhere in the last 20 minutes of the film and absolutely ethers the character we've spent this whole time being told is an expert swordsman. Without the background on Musashi as a person here, I almost feel like Nakadai plays him too aggressively.

The established history of Musashi and all his surrounding characters allows for an ending - the defeat and death of the protagonist - that would otherwise not be written into an original film, as it is, honestly, unsatisfying and abrupt. Figuring out how to show us that ending at the conclusion of a movie that is all about the losing party in question presents a fascinating problem.

I know that this is not the type of movie everybody is going to be interested in, and it takes a very specific area of interest and movie-watching stamina to want to see it at all. But my god, the costuming. The sets. Outfitting such a spectacular number of actors and extras must have kept Japan's textile industry going for a couple years. And of course the swordfighting is wonderful to watch, something I always enjoy in historical films like this. It's a shame that the Samurai trilogy is fairly easy to get hold of, with even a Criterion release (not that it doesn't deserve it!) while this perfectly good companion piece is less accessible even than Inagaki's 1950 telling of the same story. As an aside, I do wish I could see Tadao Nakamaru as anything other than the Telegian, but I guess once you've been the Telegian, you are always the Telegian.