Sorry for my English, this is not my mother tongue..
First of all it is almost impossible not to compare this movie to the Zatoichi series - if you watched that earlier. Zatoichi's character has nothing to do with Ichi, not because she is a female character, but she lacks of inner deepness - Ichi got stuck with her past and the feelings from that - she hasn't overcome her sadness, hasn't go beyond it. Unlike Zatoichi , who is ever present, yes he has a past too, but he is able to free himself of it (past is past - he says in one of the series about an event and walk away dancing joyfully). Yes, it is a comparison, but with it I just want to point out that in reality no one can be called a master, who hasn't look beyond the surface. Stillness is inside, outside - like face expressions can be changed according to the situation. The master is who is still inside (like before fight the master stand still - the posture is like he or she is going inside of him or her and from there he or she acts - very effectively), not outside. Ichi's face is, as mentioned by a lot of review, motionless, which makes the movie very unreal. At the end there is a smile on her face, which gives a bit of "hope", but it doesn't elevate the movie. The fighting scenes are all right, the movie is nicely shot, this could be a real potential - if the writer could have more insights about the real martial arts, which is about the Presence - not just in fight, but in other circumstances too. The character development of Toma also could be portrayed much better, remain wasted potential; and Ichi's character could be more visually influenced by the character of the child and Toma too.
Otherwise the music is absolutely amazing. Real gem is: Lisa Gerrard and Michael Edwards - The Memory Of The GOZE
Yet, I would advice to watch this movie, because it can be a caricature about us: if we stuck with our so called past mentally, we could become as dead as this character(and almost the whole movie) in most of our lives...
First of all it is almost impossible not to compare this movie to the Zatoichi series - if you watched that earlier. Zatoichi's character has nothing to do with Ichi, not because she is a female character, but she lacks of inner deepness - Ichi got stuck with her past and the feelings from that - she hasn't overcome her sadness, hasn't go beyond it. Unlike Zatoichi , who is ever present, yes he has a past too, but he is able to free himself of it (past is past - he says in one of the series about an event and walk away dancing joyfully). Yes, it is a comparison, but with it I just want to point out that in reality no one can be called a master, who hasn't look beyond the surface. Stillness is inside, outside - like face expressions can be changed according to the situation. The master is who is still inside (like before fight the master stand still - the posture is like he or she is going inside of him or her and from there he or she acts - very effectively), not outside. Ichi's face is, as mentioned by a lot of review, motionless, which makes the movie very unreal. At the end there is a smile on her face, which gives a bit of "hope", but it doesn't elevate the movie. The fighting scenes are all right, the movie is nicely shot, this could be a real potential - if the writer could have more insights about the real martial arts, which is about the Presence - not just in fight, but in other circumstances too. The character development of Toma also could be portrayed much better, remain wasted potential; and Ichi's character could be more visually influenced by the character of the child and Toma too.
Otherwise the music is absolutely amazing. Real gem is: Lisa Gerrard and Michael Edwards - The Memory Of The GOZE
Yet, I would advice to watch this movie, because it can be a caricature about us: if we stuck with our so called past mentally, we could become as dead as this character(and almost the whole movie) in most of our lives...