Kibakichi (2004)

directed by Tomoo Haraguchi

Japan

95 minutes

3 stars out of 5

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Werewolf samurai? Werewolf samurai.

The title character of Kibakichi is a member of a decimated clan of werewolves who wanders the backroads of Japan circa the early 1700s, always on the outskirts of humanity, but never quite accepted by the yokai, either. When he gets press-ganged into a dice game, he ends up staying in a town in which all he intended to do was get a drink far longer than anticipated, and eventually realizes that the whole town is full of yokai who have disguised themselves as humans and are under threat from a bunch of mercenaries dressed like Final Wars Xilliens. Up-front warning: this film contains less werewolfery than you may desire.

I think I understand why there aren't a ton more movies like this out there (hard to get right, goofy if done wrong) but the idea of a ronin who is separated from the rest of the populace not only by class barriers but by virtue of his actually being some kind of a supernatural creature is just fantastic. That angst Kibakichi experiences about not being monstrous enough to be a "monster" but being too close to a monster to be comfortable around humans feels like it fits perfectly with the lone-wolf outsider theme that a lot of jidaigeki with wandering ronin/gambler main characters have. The film itself totally plays up those genre conventions to its advantage, and it's really fun: all the tension and the questions of identity that frequently figure into good jidaigeki are here.

Ryūji Harada plays Kibakichi decently - but not fantastically - well. Kibakichi is interesting because he's one of those characters who works better as a silhouette than in closeups: our first image of him, in the classic round hat and tatty cloak, is essentially how his character is defined (except for the final scenes, which I'll get to in a minute). Any time we see him up close, something just feels kind of off. He seems like he's meant to be perceived conceptually rather than personally. Because of this, there could have been a lot of added weight to the handful of scenes where we can see Kibakichi's face clearly - a feeling of encountering him on a personal level rather than as an archetype - but something prevents him from being relatable in such a way.

There's way more tokusatsu to this than I expected. The film is chock full of Toho kaiju roars to a point where it's almost distracting. I was watching a werewolf vs. yokai fight but my brain was telling me it was hearing Gaira and Titanosaurus go to town on each other. This, as well as the excellent creature suits and concepts, is no coincidence; Tomoo Haraguchi has a great deal of toku credits under his belt (however you may feel about Death Kappa aside), including work on the Ultra series starting with 80. The final battle at the end of the film is pure tokusatsu fight scene, with a frankly ridiculous amount of explosions and a fully wolfed-out Kibakichi becoming nearly indestructible in the face of bullets and hand grenades.

As I've said when I've talked about other films with yokai in them, although this wasn't meant to be a Halloween movie, it fits the vibe in a way that feels entirely natural. Kibakichi is shrouded in atmosphere: the fog of a dark, fantastical past; a fog in which various creatures cavort and hide themselves - the most terrifying of which, to use a bit of a cliche, turn out to be humans. The film is a visual treat and super fun with its spooky atmosphere, and has an excellent opener and an excellent finale, but the middle faffs around a little, although not so much as to be boring.