DVD REVIEW Goemon

The nearest thing to an anime springing to life

2009 • 15 • 124 mins • £15.99 • 16 August 2010
Distributor: Momentum
Director: Kazuaki Kiriya
Cast: Yôsuke Eguchi, Yakao ôsawa, Ryoko Hirouse, Jun Kaname

After grabbing film fans’ attention with the glorious-looking but messy SF epic Casshern, director/writer Kazuaki Kiriya turns his now signature 300-meets-anime aesthetics to bringing a traditional Japanese folk tale to life.

Goemon is Japan’s version of Robin Hood (does every culture have one?). A 16^th Century ninja warrior turned bandit during the Japanese civil war, he robbed from the rich to give to the poor. Kazuaki Kiriya retells the tale in fanciful fashion, with live action actors against anime-style CG backdrops.

It’s an intriguing film let down sometimes by its stylisation. The script bravely moves from the almost pantomime humour and swashbuckling swagger of the first half to a tragic, melancholy tale that (somewhat surprisingly) questions the morality of Goemon’s actions. The film is deeply touching at times, as Goemon reassesses his life and the effect his actions have on others, benefitting from a multi-layered performance from its star, Yôsuke Eguchi. It embraces the mythic and makes it personal in a very effective fashion.

Unfortunately, the visuals often work against the emotional beats of the story. When the CG is good, it’s beautiful, but often it’s horrendously cartoony. Being generous, you could argue this is a stylistic conceit, but even granting that, the unconvincing FX detract from the story, propelling the viewer out of the story rather than dragging them in. An alarmingly camp performance from Toyotomi Hideyohias the main villain, Warlord (who makes Max von Sydow‘s Ming The Merciless seem the height of subtlety) also jars; the film desperately needs a more chilling, dangerous big bad to balance Goemon’s change of nature rather than this bloated buffoon. An uneven but fascinating film, then – just like Casshern.

Extras:

Making Of (18 mins), on-set footage (36 mins), director interview (20 mins), trailer.