NEW JAPANESE BLIND SWORDSWOMAN

Ichi is part of Sochiku Studio's latest line-up, one of the many films they'll be marketing at Cannes. It's a re-working of the Zatoichi formula, only this time the titular hero is a traveling woman shamisen player. Of course she has a sword hidden inside her walking stick. Sounds cool, but judging by recent Japanese television-inflected big studio productions - perhaps the recent Sanjuro remake starring Yuji Oda of Bayside Shakedown fame is one indication - it might not be that promising. Oh yeah, there's also a recent remake of Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress - yes, the film that provided the plot template for the first Star Wars. Anyhow, Ichi is directed by Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong, Vexille) and stars an idol , the sexy Haruka Ayase. Who doesn't like sexy badasses and the trailer looks slightly intriguing, but this chick doesn't seem to have that innate stoic demeanor of say Kaji Meiko or Shibasaki Ko (who has been called the Kaji Meiko of her generation). Shibasaki recently starred in the Steven Chow produced Shaolin Girl. I guess there she sheds the scary stoic badass skin and reveals a more athletic, comedic side.

This is not the first Japanese blind swordswoman film.
There was a succesful Shochiku series called the Crimson Bat, starring Yoko Matsuyama, based on a manga by her husband Teruo Tanashita. The original zatoichi is a jidai-geki (period piece) of the chanbara (sword swinging action) genre, though technicaly, because zatoichi is essentially a roving gambler, the films qualify as yakuza eiga. The Crimson Bat gains her sword prowess under the tutelage of a ronin so I suppose it's more samurai than yakuza.According to the synopsis, the heroine in Ichi is at odds with the yakuza, perhaps not unlike the Beat Takeshi Zatoichi.