Shinobi By Hervé St.Louis Jul 19, 2006 - 10:41:00 AM

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Shinobi
Director: Shimoyama Ten
Screenplay: Kenya Hirata, Futaro Yamada
Cast: Joe Odagiri, Yukie Nakama, Tak Sakaguchi
Distributor: FUNimation
Japan
2005 | 101 min | 35mm
Japanese language, English subtitles

Shinobi is a loose adaptation of a novel Kouga Ninpou Cho by Futaro Yamada, which also spawned a similar anime series that already airs in Canada. It was featured as a Canadian premiere on July 14 2006 at the Fantasia film festival.

It’s Romeo meets Juliet as heroic Gennosuke meets pretty Oboro near the river that divides their respective villages. Each trained in the deadly arts of the Shinobi ninja, used by feudal Japanese Lords to wage war on their enemy, the young lovers must lead four of their own to the capital and try to kill their opposite numbers in the hopes of winning a new contest devised by the feudal lord that rules over them. The lord, afraid that aimless ninjas without wars may become too difficult to contain hopes they will decimate each other. Can the lovers overcome this challenge, or will they kill each other first?

This is a great movie that’s a bit more fun than Romeo and Juliet. It has a little of everything which would help make it a shining blockbuster if it ever got released nationwide outside Japan. I didn’t expect to believe in this story but it was compelling enough and didn’t turn into a chick movie. The characters make hard decisions and their plight almost seems Shakespearean. You can see it with the secondary characters and the parts they play in this action romance.

The cinematography is exceptional with beautiful imagery that easily translates the love and passion of the characters while they fight one another. The special effects were spotless, although the wires used for the jumping characters could have used more work. Seems like the 3D stand in didn’t move as swiftly or smoothly as one would have hope. Still, it’s a must see film.

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