Ken ki (1965) User Reviews

Atmospheric samurai drama with a touch of the supernatural

[ChungMo · 7/10 · 30 April 2006]

Kenji Misumi is best known for his work on the Zatoichi series and the legendary Lone Wolf films. His eye for nature combined with his flare for stylistic violence makes him one of the masters of the samurai film heyday of the 1960's. This movie comes right in the middle of it all.

This is the story of a man of mysterious parentage who ends up the adopted son of an elderly low-ranking samurai. The man has a special talent for growing flowers which brings him into the employ of the vassals of an insane lord. The vassals are hoping that a beautiful garden will calm the crazed lord. The man eventually becomes a secret assassin for the head vassal who is trying to prevent the lord's insanity from becoming public.

Lots of great sword work, excellent color photography and good acting. The film follows the samurai genre closely with a good amount of political intrigue but the excellent direction by Misumi keeps the pace going at a good clip. There is a supernatural element to the story but it's very low key so if you are looking for a good Japanese ghost or demon story, this isn't going to do it. If you are content with an intriguing variation on the samurai drama, this is recommended.

Dog Son and special Skills over japanese folklore!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 8 January 2018]

Stated by me as third cinema in the whole world, yes the japanese film industry, they are incredibly creatives, one fine sample is this picture where isn't a samurai movie only, it's has a mysticism inside, the initial idea come from of the Japan's folklore, implying in a man with many desterity like running and catch up and observing how use a blade without touch it, just looking, fabulous movie which driven force to unknown to development the character, Raizô Ichikawa delivers everything that was able to do!! Beyond in color those magnificent landscape seems much better photographed!!

Resume:

First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Standard Daiei stuff

[chaos-rampant · 29 October 2008]

Sword Devil is largely typical early-to-mid sixties Daiei Studios stuff, with good marquee value (Misumi-Ichikawa) but nothing we haven't seen better elsewhere. A genre b-movie with standard plotting then, SD plays out with little in the way of surprise but still fairly entertaining within the boundaries it sets up for itself. Hanpei is born to a servant of the mad Lady of the clan and a dog, or so the legend goes, and so dog-son is his nickname. The opening credits sequence is almost a direct copy of the one from Kurosawa's STRAY DOG, the stray dog (nora inu) standing in as a very common symbolic reference for the ronin drifter in the chambara field and one Kurosawa himself used in YOJIMBO. Indeed Hanpei is defined as a typical genre outcast, an alienated character on the fringes of society (as the old man taking care of him says before he dies "you're not even considered a human…"), but unlike other characters of that ilk Hanpei starts out as a doormat type of character, shy and timid and with no swordsman skills whatsoever. Instead of being a laconic badass as one would expect, Hanpei is employed as a florist tending the gardens of the local daimyo. His transformation from timid gardener to sword devil starts with him learning the sword from a ronin practicing in the woods and climaxes in a hack-and-slash battle where he chops down two dozen of his own clan's vassals, them hell-bent on revenge, and rightfully fulfills the title's lurid promise. Kudos goes to Raizo Ichikawa for his portrayal of Hanpei; he shows formidable acting chops and proves he can do likable and goodie just as good as the darker, more nihilistic characters he played around the same era (Nemuri Kiyoshiro, Ryunosuke Tsukue).