Last night I was able to step out…with a couple of the Daves, and the one and only Huey-Ling. It was a packed house at the Riverview, and the film was an enjoyable one. Beat Takeshi was at his oddball best, and the geisha storyline was melancholy and moving, but balanced by moments of wacky fun. And throughout I noticed that one of the actors, Tadanobu Asano, looked more than hot…he looked familiar. I’ve seen several of his films, most notably the Sogo Ishii directed Electric Dragon 80,000 v…at last year’s New York - Tokyo film fest. Also appearing in Zatoichi, though briefly and uncredited, was Seizo Fukumoto…said to have died at least 20,000 agonizing deaths on screen over his career. See all this and more when Zatoichi hits theaters in June.
