I can't tell who the DP of this movie is, but it's the second script by Shinobu Hashimoto, and the compositions suggest the beauty shots of SEVEN SAMURAI. The lack of lines from So Yamamura in the leading role, who spends 29 minutes glowering and beating up people and sake bottles before saying a single word, itself speaks to the character's discontent.
In an odd parallel to all the movies about the O. K. Corral, the real Miki was, like Doc Holliday, tubercular. Given the numerous parallels between the western and the samurai movie, this could not have escaped anyone, and the character's inability to get a good position or enjoy life in a beautiful cinematic world, even with Ranko Hanai as his devoted wife, is the essence of the story. The movie suffers a bit from its familiarity to its Japanese audience, terse to the point of obscurity. Still, the beautiful images offered by its unnamed cinematographer more than make up for that.
In an odd parallel to all the movies about the O. K. Corral, the real Miki was, like Doc Holliday, tubercular. Given the numerous parallels between the western and the samurai movie, this could not have escaped anyone, and the character's inability to get a good position or enjoy life in a beautiful cinematic world, even with Ranko Hanai as his devoted wife, is the essence of the story. The movie suffers a bit from its familiarity to its Japanese audience, terse to the point of obscurity. Still, the beautiful images offered by its unnamed cinematographer more than make up for that.
