Movie

The Tale of Zatoichi

1962 · 96 min

A quiet, melancholic samurai drama where honour and loneliness cut as deep as any sword.

Directed by: Kenji Misumi
Genres: Adventure, Action, Drama
Starring: Shintarō Katsu, Masayo Banri, Ryūzō Shimada

Overview: The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.

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Directed by: Kenji Misumi
Genres: Adventure, Action, Drama
Starring: Shintarō Katsu, Masayo Banri, Ryūzō Shimada

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: melancholicstrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
earneststrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: isolation
friendship
death
loyalty
morality
Places: small town
countryside
Era: period
Audience: adult
Form: serialised
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language none
Violence strong
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	6
Horror	2
Humour	3
Realism	7
Romance	2
Tension	6
Darkness	6
Complexity	5
Emotional weight	7

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy

Apple TV Store

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres: adventure, action, drama
Directed by: Kenji Misumi
Written by: Minoru Inuzuka
Starring: Shintarō Katsu, Masayo Banri, Ryūzō Shimada, Hajime Mitamura, Shigeru Amachi, Michirō Minami, Eijirō Yanagi, Toshio Chiba
Music: Akira Ifukube
Cinematography: Chikashi Makiura
Runtime: 96 min
Country: Japan
Languages: Japanese

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The Tale of Zatoichi

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