Movie title: Shinobi heart under blade
Director: Ten Shimoyama
Written by: Kenya Hirata
Starring: Nakama Yukie; Odagiri Joe
Release date: 17th September 2005 (in Japan)
Story plot: Too simple and short. Not much development in storyline or characters. Bascially it walks along a path of the leaders of two opposing shinobi clans falling in love with each other, while their clans faces destruction from the Ieyasu Tokugawa Shogun at the same time.
Plus points: The Cinematography. Absolutely stunning contrasting of natural colours. From sunset red to sky blue. From emerald forest green to snow white. The movie is a great one to behold for the playing and contrasting of colours. What is even more wonderful is the director using natural sounds, such as the running stream water, twirping of the birds to combine with the images, thus giving a totally refreshing and unexpected portrayal for shinobi movies. The atmosphere created is soothning, beautiful, sad, and totally “nihon desu” at the same time.
Another unexpected factor is the filming itself which contains a strong flavour of anime charcacters style. A bit exagerrating perhaps for audiences not used to watching animation, however, totally refreshing when the characters’ unqiueness combine with the above mentioned cinematography. (By the way, the one who designed the charcters for this movie is the same manga master who drew Record of Loddos War, an anime classic which I am sure lots of people know of.) Congratulations to the director for having combine the two strong factors of the movie so well! Take note of the fighting styles of each of the shinobi when watching this film, especially Gennosuke!
