Gojoe
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is a 2000 Japanese ''
jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...
''
action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Gakuryū Ishii , formerly known as , is a Japanese filmmaker known for his stylistic punk films, which helped spark the cyberpunk movement in Japan. A number of contemporary filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino have cited Ishii's films as an influence. Earl ...
. In several English-speaking countries, it was released as ''Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle''. It is a
historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthur ...
martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...
set in 12th-century medieval Japan before the
Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...
.


Plot

After the apparent defeat of the Genji in the war for Japan, a mysterious demon lurking at the Gojoe bridge in
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
kills every Heike warrior that tries to cross it. Meanwhile Musashibo Benkei, a
samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
turned Buddhist monk out of repentance for his past crimes, receives a divine signal from Acalanatha informing him that he only will be forgiven after slaying the demon. Borrowing a sacred sword from a
yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...
sect, and against the wishes of his mentor Ajari, Benkei sets out to destroy the monster. At the scene of one of the murders in Gojoe, Benkei encounters his old rival Tankai, and also meets a scavenger named Tetsukichi, a former weaponsmith who now survives from looting from battle corpses. One night, during a failed attempt by the Heike clan of killing the demon through large numbers of troops, Benkei discovers the supposed demon is actually three superhuman masked warriors. They are Shanao, a young mystic and heir to the Genji, and his two retainers Gojin and Keshimaru. Back in their cave refuge, Shanao is urged by his priest Shoshinbo to take command of the disorganized Genji army to get revenge on the Heike. Benkei starts a search to locate Shanao's cave accompanied by Tetsukichi. It is then revealed that the latter used to be a legendary swordmaker, but he retired because his weapons were used by
sōhei were Buddhist warrior monks of both classical and feudal Japan. At certain points in history, they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate. The prominence of the ''sōhei'' rose in parallel wi ...
to indulge in bloodshed, and only follows Benkei under the promise of looting Shanao's collection of captured swords. However, he develops a grudging respect towards Benkei after the latter exorcizes a
possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...
parturient woman, Asagiri. Later in their quest, they reach a forest cursed by evil spirits, who Benkei tries to banish, but he is stopped by spells sent by Shanao. Benkei and Tetsukichi are then arrested by Heike soldiers, who take the former to their leader
Taira no Tadanori (1144–1184) was a poet and military leader of the late Heian period of Japan. He was the brother of clan head Taira no Kiyomori, and one of his generals in the Genpei War against the Minamoto. Career Tadanori was the governor of Satsuma an ...
. Tadanori asks for Benkei's help to solidify the Heike dominance over Japan, but Benkei refuses, having dedicated his life to Buddha. Tadanori orders Benkei to be tied under the sun to torment him, then arranges for him to duel Tankai, wanting Benkei to show his true power. However, having sworn off his warrior past, Benkei refuses, and he is to be executed when Shanao and his retainers attack the place, which causes a three-way battle in which Tadanori dies. Cutting down Tankai, Shanao faces off with Benkei and breaks the sacred sword due to Benkei's reluctance to fight. However, Ajari appears to scare Shanao away and reveal that Acalanatha's signal was actually a delusion. After the faceoff, Shanao abandons his allegiance for the Genji and announces he will fight only for himself. He visits Ajari, revealing him that the gods have abandoned the world and boasting only he has the power to do so now, and cuts down the old master. Shanao then initiates an
iconoclast Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
rampage, killing monks and desecrating statues, which spreads insanity around the land, and challenges Benkei him to a duel in the bridge. Finding Tetsukichi alive among the corpses of Asagiri and Tankai's warriors, Benkei asks him to reforge the sacred sword. Tetsukichi feels hopeless, but after watching Benkei mystically revive Asagiri's baby as his last deed as a monk, he helps him. Shanao comes to the bridge after having assumed the name of Yoshitsune, while Benkei confronts him while wearing armor and carrying multiple weapons, embracing his warrior ethos. The two fight, only for the sacred sword to break again. However, Benkei now utilizes the rest of his weapons, which get similarly destroyed, and while unarmed he uses
jujutsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...
. Although Yoshitsune seems near the victory, Benkei announces he will finally show him his demon blood and fights him wielding a piece of sword. Yoshitsune stabs Benkei through the torso, but Benkei raises the piece to the stormy sky, attracting a bolt of
lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
that kills them both and destroys the bridge. After the duel, Shoshinbo meets a group of emissaries of the Genji, whom he makes believe that Keshimaru and Gojin are respectively Yoshitsune and a now allied Benkei. At the bridge, a Tetsukichi rendered blind by the lightning searches desperately for Benkei among the rubble, but he only finds the baby, still miraculously alive.


Cast

*
Daisuke Ryu Daisuke Ryu (Japanese: 隆大介, Korean: 장명남, Jang Myeong-nam, hanja: 張明男; 14 January 1957 – 11 April 2021) was a Japanese actor of Korean descent. He won the Japanese "best new actor" Blue Ribbon Award for his performance as the ...
as Musashibo Benkei *
Tadanobu Asano , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in ''Electric Dragon 80.000 V'', Kakihara in ''Ichi the Killer'', Mamoru Arita in '' Bright Future'', Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'', Kenj ...
as Shanao/Yoshitsune *
Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's ''Cold Fever'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train''. Nagase was described by Todd Brown of Twitch Film as "one of the great unsung heroes of Japane ...
as Tetsukichi *
Saburo Teshigawara is a Japanese choreographer and dancer who was born in Tokyo and became known for founding a company named KARAS along with Kei Miyata in 1985. On September 12, 2013, he performed ''Mirror and Music'' at the Kennedy Center which was highly prais ...
as Ajari *
Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF), ...
as Tankai * Ittoku Kishibe as
Taira no Tadanori (1144–1184) was a poet and military leader of the late Heian period of Japan. He was the brother of clan head Taira no Kiyomori, and one of his generals in the Genpei War against the Minamoto. Career Tadanori was the governor of Satsuma an ...
*
Jun Kunimura is a Japanese actor who has performed in Japan, Hollywood and Hong Kong. He won Best Supporting Actor and the Popular Star Award at the 37th Blue Dragon Film Awards for his performance in the South Korean horror film ''The Wailing (film), The Wa ...
as Suzaku-hougan * Wui-Sin Chong (credited as Yoshinobu Tei) as Sashinbo * Takahito Hosoyamada as Keshimaru * Atsushi Narita as Gojin *
Taketoshi Naito was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1953 and 2003. He died of lymphoma on 21 August 2012. Selected filmography Film * ''Mahiru no ankoku'' (1956) * ''An Actress'' (1956) - Akio Satomi * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) - ...
as the old man in the bridge * Urara Awata as Ashagiri *
Nobuhiro Suwa is a Japanese film director working in Japan and France. His directorial works and screenplays often make use of improvisation techniques. Currently, Suwa is the President of Tokyo Zokei University. Biography Having graduated from Hirosh ...
as
Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...
(flashback) * Toshihiro Isomi as
Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123 – 11 February 1160) was the head of the Minamoto clan and a general of the late Heian period of Japanese history. His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became ''shōgun'' and founded the Kamakura shogunate, the first shogunate in the history of ...
(flashback) * Ikui Ishii as Tokiwa Gozen (flashback)


Production

Film producer Takenori Sento, who helped produce the ''Ring'' Trilogy, wanted to create a box office hit by making an action film in the ''
jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...
'' genre.


Release

The film was first shown in North America as part of the 2000
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. The film was also shown at the 2001 Sitges Film Festival. The film was set for an October 7, 2001 theatrical release in Japan.


Awards

Actor
Tadanobu Asano , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in ''Electric Dragon 80.000 V'', Kakihara in ''Ichi the Killer'', Mamoru Arita in '' Bright Future'', Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'', Kenj ...
won the award for Best Supporting Actor at the
Hochi Film Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...
in 2000 for his role in this film and in ''
Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
''.


Reception

''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a mixed review, stating that "Despite an impressive opening and suitably titanic finale, yarn about various warriors battling one another during the 'Dark Ages' is way overlong at almost hours and soon palls with its endless succession of sylvan swordplay." ''
The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'' compared the final action scene to the "excessive episodes of the ''
Dragonball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ' ...
'' and that the film may "bring in the same kids who made the ''Ring'' films an event – but it's not going to make anyone forget '' Shichinin no Samurai''. Kurosawa's masterpiece delivers the essence of battle with gut-wrenching authority."
Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, i ...
gave the film a positive review, stating that "What it lacks in humour (and there is absolutely none to be found in it), ''Gojoe'' more than makes up for in its sheer, unrelenting intensity, something which few other directors would be able to sustain over so long a duration."


Notes


External links

* {{Sōgo Ishii 2000 films Toho films 2000 action films Japanese action films Fantasy adventure films Japanese martial arts films Samurai films 2001 martial arts films 2001 films Cultural depictions of Minamoto no Yoshitsune 2000s Japanese films