Bunraku (2010)
I've found over the years that some of the best movies are the ones you've never heard of before, or that you find by accident. Hell, a few I've reviewed have come by those routes. That said, sometimes you find a movie that just on the simplest terms intrigues you- either a strange title, an oddly worded synopsis or a crazy trailer can be enough to wet your whistle.
In today's case, we have all three.
Honestly, I found this movie without looking- I was perusing IMDB one night and saw a poster with curious title of Bunraku displayed upon it. If not for the poster, which honestly didn't give much away, I could have thought of many different things that could go with that title- for all I knew it could've been about kung-fu bunnies.
Digging a bit deeper however, I was met with a plot that was summarized quite simply in the trailer, yet had so much else going for it- "a cowboy, in a world without guns, and a samurai without a sword team up to take down a common evil". This sounds like the plot of a story a little kid would write or some odd fanfiction, but along with the trailer, which reminded me stylistically of Repo The Genetic Opera and Sin City, two of my favorite movies, this was enough to interest me.
Took some time but I eventually found a copy to watch and suffice to say, it lived up to my expectations. This is 2010's Bunraku.
Plot
Just to explain the title somewhat, Bunraku is a style of Japanese puppet theater, which uses four foot tale puppets with detailed heads operated by several puppeteers wearing all black. With that said, this movie has no puppets. Instead, the visual style takes its cues from Japanese motifs, with sets folding and unfolding like origami, tricks of light reminiscent of shadow plays, and a fair amount of traditional Japanese architecture.
On to the movie itself, it takes place in a semi-post apocalyptic setting, in that we can gathering from the opening narration and animation that a big final war did occur that changed the landscape of the world and let to an agreed ban on firearms. The main setting is a wild west meets far east styled town that is controlled by the most powerful man east of the Atlantic, Nicola the Woodcutter, a brutal thug played by the always awesome Ron Perlman. Nicola maintains power through his nine underlings, The Nine Killers, led by the cruel and effective Killer No.2, played by Kevin McKidd, and his own person army, The Red Army, who keep the population in check. While people have tried to take Nicola and his men down they have all failed, and things seem pretty bleak. Enter The Drifter, a nameless man in black who comes to town looking for a card game, played by Josh Hartnett. The Drifter is fast with his hands, taking down two men who get in his face after he arrives and intimidating the rest of their gang with ease. He learns from The Bartender, played by Woody Harrelson, that there is a card game to be found at The Russian Roulette, a club run by Nicola's people, and the location of his own weekly poker game. Also arriving on the same train as The Drifter is Yoshi, a samurai searching for his clan's stolen medallion, played by Gackt. He too faces a few scraps with street thugs and the Red Army before arriving at the same bar, where The Bartender attempts to convince the two to join forces. After a pretty epic fight the two part ways unwilling to trust one another, but after a few other incidents involving their separate quests, they realize that if they are going to get what they came to town for, they will need a little help.
Thoughts
First off, this movie is violent, but in an entertaining and stylistic way. It has a touch of Tarentino in it, and if you saw Kill Bill, think of the fight scenes in this movie as more or less and extensions of the fight scene between The Bride and The Crazy 88- they look the same. Which is not a bad thing, in fact I think it makes the fights that much more enjoyable. There are some quick ones that hit you hard, but then come longer ones that are just really well choreographed. Yes they are not realistic but this is a movie so I can let it slide- if I want complete realism I'll watch a documentary.
Another thing this film has going for it is it's editing and camera work- again, elements of style that really add to the film. Everything look right and there are very few moments in which a scene drags on or comes off looking shoddy. Some reviews I've read have actually gone after the film for this reason, claiming it is all style- I disagree. While the plot is far from original, it is well paced and the characters are entertaining. You like The Drifter and Yoshi and you enjoy their interactions, along with their fight scenes both separate and together. The film has no deeper meaning or complex plot- it's very much a Western, with a mysterious man coming to clean up a lawless town, only in this case there's two men and one happens to be a samurai.
If I were to make a complaint about the substance, its that some characters have little to do. For a villain, Perlman's Nicola is rarely on screen, however I will let that slide as when he is on screen, he owns it. If anyone gets the shaft in the film, it's Demi Moore as Alexandra, Nicola's lover who has a connection to the Bartender- a connection that is touched upon so lightly that you are left wondering what the point was of including it and her in the film. She adds very little, and I don't blame Demi for that as she is a good actress, I blame the script for giving her nothing to do. Likewise, while Harrelson is good as the Bartender, we are given only tidbits of his character to work with, and while it is obvious there is a story behind him, we never get to hear it which sucks because he is likeable and you know from the moment you meet him there is more to him then meets the eye. Again, I blame the script for not handling his character well enough, but as with Perlman, I can let it slide enough because he still plays a big enough part in the main plot even though the obvious side plot they were going for with him goes nowhere.
Outside of that, my only real complaint about the film is that while it is two hours, I feel they could've done more with the time given. It is a good movie but it could easily have been great. There are still some scene stealing moments, such as The Bartender showing off one of his pop up books to Yoshi, one that tells of the myth of Aracnidus, a man bit by a spider who gained it's powers, and realized such powers brought with them a responsibility- a nod to Spiderman that gave me a laugh because it is played so serious. However one can figure in the future some stories from now, even ones from comic books, can be turned into myths like those from ancient times.
Conclusion
As I said, the film is not perfect, it's script could use a bit more work and some of it's characters could have a little more to do in the film. That said, it is well written nonetheless and well shot, and the cast chosen play their roles well. Hell watching it I wonder why they didn't get Hartnett and Gackt for The Green Hornet movie- ya know before it became a Seth Rogen comedy and still had some of the characters original darkness to it. It is an old story told in a new way with interesting visual styles and excellent fight scenes. All in all, it's a good movie and well worth a watch especially if you enjoyed Sin City or Repo's film style, or if you just like a semi-modern Western flick- with a samurai in it.
3.5 Dragon Medallions out of 5
That's all out of me, until next time, I'm The Drew and I be Awesome.
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