MUSASHI: THE DREAM OF THE LAST SAMURAI

2009 | Japan | Japanese with English Subtitles | 72 min | Digital | NC16 – Some Violence
Biography, Drama, Action

Director: Mizuho Nishikubo
Original Concept / Screenplay: Mamoru Oshii
Character Design: Kazuto Nakazawa
Animation Director: Kazuchika Kise
Art Director: Shuichi Hirata 
CG Animation: Makoto Endo

The creative team of Ghost in the Shell, Innocence, The Sky Crawlers and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 resurrects the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi in a documentary re-telling of his story that fuses several animation styles.

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) was an unrivalled swordsman in the days when internal wars in Japan had virtually ended. Nevertheless, he wrote a master treatise on military strategy, The Book of Five Rings and sought the way to enlighten his spirit and cultivate his mind. But could his image have been fabricated by the generations that followed?

Mamoru Oshii will take on an unusual portrayal of this legendary and aloof warrior, between spectacular duels and a tragic life in pursuit of greatness. With The Book of Five Rings as his guide, Oshii will unsheathe his unique vision of this greatest swordsman in Japanese history. Oshii’s long-time collaborator, Mizuho Nishikubo directs the film, cleverly combining 2D and 3DCGI animation and live action footage with different narrative and visual styles, and devoting specific attention to the music score, in a mesmerizing east-meet-west fusion of sounds. Kazuto Nakazawa, director of the mind-blowing animation segment in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and creator of innovative characters as seen in Samurai Champloo (2004), has contributed the character designs for Musashi. The animation is supervised by Kazuchika Kise, the chief animator in Ghost in the Shell, Innocence and Blood: The Last Vampire.

“…a larky, restlessly inventive look at the 17th-century master swordsman.” - Variety