Japanese cult director Takashi Miike says he remade the 1963 classic “Thirteen Assassins” to help Japan’s younger generation learn about the past.
The film is set about 150 years ago, toward the end of the samurai period. An esteemed samurai, Shinzaemon Shimada, played by Japanese superstar Koji Yakusho—best known to international audiences for his roles in “Babel” and “Memoirs of a Geisha”—calls on 12 other elite warriors to end the sadistic rule of Lord Naritsugu.
“I wanted the audience to realize that this story is not taking place in the remote past, but rather in a recent past when our great-grandparents lived,” the director told a news conference Thursday ahead of the film’s premiere in competition for the Golden Lion. “It is our story, the story of our everyday life. In Japan, contemporary history is something children do not know very well.”
The movie is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s black-and-white classic of the samurai genre.
Stylish and intricately choreographed, the story line presents the noble ideals often associated with samurai, for example, when early in the film Shimada says the greatest honor he could achieve as a samurai would be to die a “noble death.”
“Fate smiles on me,” he says when the opportunity to face off against Lord Naritsugu comes his way.
The film also relies on Miike’s trademark use of violence. He also gives each samurai a distinctive personality, deepening interest in the characters.
The film comes to Venice competition with a strong production pedigree behind it. Jeremy Thomas, the project’s executive producer who met Miike in Venice a few years ago, worked on Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor.”
The film’s other executive producer, Toshiaki Nakazawa, was behind the film “Departures,” which won the best foreign film Oscar.
Miike was last in Venice with the 2007 film “Sukiyaki Western Django,” in which actor and director Quentin Tarantino had a cameo.
Tarantino, a big fan of Miike’s films, is president of this year’s jury, which will decide the winner of the Golden Lion on Sept 11.
Official trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ILO2RWhEw
The film is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 black-and-white Japanese movie of the same name, and the story follows:
“Esteemed samurai Shinzaemon Shimada is secretly commissioned to terminate the evil Lord Naritsugu after his bloody rise to power. Assembling an elite group of samurai, Shinzaemon plots to ambush the Lord on his annual journey home from Edo.
The courageous samurai know it’s a suicide mission because the Lord is closely protected by a deadly entourage led by Shinzaemon’s nemesis, the ruthless Hanbei. To capture Lord Naritsugu, Shinzaemon and his skilled samurai transform a mountain village into an intricate death trap.
But when the Lord finally arrives, the assassins discover they are outnumbered fifteen to one. The day has come for our 13 fearless assassins to face death in a monumental battle of fiery explosions, showers of arrows and bloody showdowns of clashing swords. “
13 Assassins stars Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Hiroki Matsukata and Kazuki Namioka and has a release date across Japan on the 25th september 2010.
Executive producers are Toshiaki Nakazawa (producer of Departures, 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film) Sedic International (Japan), Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Takeshi Kitano’s Brother) RPC Recorded Picture Company (UK), Takashi Hirajo – TV Asahi Corporation.
Complete Venice Film Festival Lineup:
IN COMPETITION
“Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky, U.S. (Opening Film)
“La Pecora Nera,” Ascanio Celestini, Italy
“Somewhere,” Sofia Coppola, U.S.
“Happy Few,” Antony Cordier, France
“The Solitude of Prime Numbers,” Saverio Costanzo, Italy, Germany, France
“Silent Souls,” Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
“Promises Written in Water,” Vincent Gallo, U.S.
“Road To Nowhere,” Monte Hellman, U.S.
“Balada Triste de Trompeta,” Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, France
“Venus Noir,” Abdellatif Kechiche, France
“Post Mortem,” Pablo Larrain, Chile, Mexico, Germany
“Barney’s Version,” Richard J. Lewis, Canada, Italy
“We Believed,” Mario Martone, Italy, France
“La Passione,” Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
“13 Assassins,” Takashi Miike, Japan, U.K.
“Potiche,” Francois Ozon, France
“Meek’s Cutoff,” Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
“Miral,” Julian Schnabel, U.S., France, Italy, Israel
“Norwegian Wood,” Tran Anh Hung, Japan
“Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
“Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame,” Tsui Hark, China
“Three,” Tom Tykwer, Germany
OUT OF COMPETITION
Opening Night Tribute to Bruce Lee ”The Return of Chen Zhen,” Andrew Lau (China, Hong Kong)
Opening Night Midnight Movie ”Machete,” Robert Rodriguez (U.S.)
“The Tempest,” Julie Taymor (U.S.)
Homage to Vittorio Gassman ”Vittorio racconta — Una vita da Mattatore,” Giancarlo Scarchilli (Italy)
“The Town,” Ben Affleck (U.S.)
“I’m Still Here: the Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix,” Casey Affleck (U.S.)
“Sorelle Mai,” Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
“Niente Paura — Come siamo come eravamo e le canzoni di Luciano Ligabue,” Piergiorgio Gay (Italy)
“Dante Ferretti — Production Designer,” Gianfranco Giagni (Italy)
“Notizie degli Scavi,” Emidio Greco (Italy)
“The Last Movie” (1971), Dennis Hopper
“Gorbaciof,” Stefano Incerti (Italy)
“That Girl in Yellow Boots,” Anurag Kashyap (India)
“Showtime,” Stanley Kwan (China)
“Sei Venezia,” Carlo Mazzacurati (Italy)
“Zebraman” (2004), Takashi Miike (Japan)
“Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City,” Takashi Miike (Japan)
“The Child’s Eye 3D,” Oxide Pang and Danny Pang (China, Hong Kong)
“Vallanzasca – Gli angeli del male,” Michele Placido (Italy)
“All Inclusive 3D,” Nadia Ranocchi and David Zamagni (Italy, Austria)
“Raavan” (Tamil version), Mani Ratnam (India)
“1960,” Gabriele Salvatores (Italy)
“La prima volta a Venezia,” Antonello Sarno (Italy)
“A Letter to Elia,” Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones (U.S.)
“Shock Labyrinth 3D,” Takashi Shimizu (Japan)
“L’ultimo Gattopardo: Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo,” Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
“Passione,” John Turturro (Italy)
“Lope,” Andrucha Waddington (Spain, Brazil)
“Space Guy,” Zhang Yuan (China)
source:
japantoday & internet
