Movielogr
The Phoenix (1978)
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
This extraordinarily complex film is not only a send-up of every samurai film ever made, it is also an extrapolation of the value of life. The Yamatai, represented by Prince Susano-O and elderly advisor Sumuke, hire Yumihiko of Matsuro to hunt the phoenix so that Queen Himiko, sister of Susano-O can have eteranal life.
Length 137 minutes
Actors
Jun Fubuki | Tomisaburo Wakayama | Toshinori Omi | Masao Kusakari | Kaoru Yumi | Ken Tanaka | Reiko Ôhara | Toru Emori | Ryûzô Hayashi | Mieko Takamine | Tatsuya Nakadai | Mitsuko Kusabue | Takeshi Katô | Junzaburô Ban | Hideji Ôtaki
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/20/2020 | TV | Broadcast | Other | 6 stars |
| (Average) 6 stars |
Viewing Notes
aka FIREBIRD: DAYBREAK CHAPTER
DKUTV programmed this for their “After Hours” slot, which is always strange to me b/c it’s like a 9:30pm start time… not exactly after hours but whatever. This is a rather epic and quite convoluted story about the pursuit of the legendary Phoenix so that once captured a queen can drink its blood for eternal life. It is a wild movie and often challenging to follow. And despite some interesting aspects, that really knocks it down a point. It really is like a kitchen sink of fantasy adventure flicks that combines live action and animation. Such an odd film but one that I would totally view again given the chance so I can digest at my leisure than in broadcast format. There are many times throughout where I wished I could pause and rewind just to grasp what was happening.
This film also has what may be the longest description on IMDb that I have ever read. Just seeing that I knew this was gonna be an unwieldy film. But I love the ambition to make such a batshit flick. It features a large cast including Yumi Kaoru, who is so pretty even when she’s all messed up in what appears to be her last film. And I’ll never tire of watching Tatsuya Nakadai chew scenery as a big bad. His role here falls somewhere between his characters in Kagemusha and Ran yet predates both those films. This was like a warm-up for him.
Since Josef has a copy of this w/subs it must exist out there somewhere so I’ll have to look for a copy.
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