The latest Asian movie releases. Muay Thai kickboxing meets Japanese swordplay in the Thai martial arts fest Yamada: Way of the Samurai, out on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK next week from Cine-Asia.
YAMADA: WAY OF THE SAMURAI
Nopporn Watin, 2010, Thailand
UK Blu-ray and DVD (Cine-Asia)
When Ong-Bak exploded onto screens back in 2003, it not only introduced western audiences to the twin talents of director Prachya Pinkaew and star Tony Jaa, but was for many their first cinematic exposure to the discipline of Muay Thai kickboxing. Technically, Jean-Claude Van Damme had dabbled in it way back in the late ‘80s, but Ong-bak was the first time many of us were witnessing the martial art performed in an Asian movie; in fact, pre-Ong-Bak, Thai action cinema didn’t have much of a profile at all. Since then, there have been dozens of Thai films centered around Muay Thai – a few decent (Pinkaew’s Chocolate is a personal favourite), but most cheap and forgettable.
Yamada: Way of the Samurai (also known as The Samurai of Ayothaya) is the latest of this bunch to get a UK release. The gimmick here is that the film mixes its brutal displays of Muay Thai with more poetic Japanese swordplay, using the true story of Japanese warrior Nagamasa Yamada as the basis for a mix of sappy melodrama and blood-splattered action. Yamada was a samurai who lived and fought in occupied Thailand during the early 17th century. After he is double-crossed by his own people and left badly wounded, he is cared for in a village belonging to a tribe of kickboxing Thai monks and their families. As Yamada slowly returns to full strength, he begins to appreciate life amongst these simple people and question his role as part of a race of invading aggressors.
It’s a common problem with martial arts movies that the stars are in their roles not because of acting ability, but because they can perform their chosen discipline exceptionally well. Some do have acting chops (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen etc) – many don’t. Yamada has a similar issue with its leading man, but unfortunately in this case, Seigi Ozeki is neither a good actor or a particularly interesting martial artist. He’s a Thai-based Japanese ex-model turned romantic leading man, and he’s utterly out of his depth here. Yamada is meant to be a man tortured by history, who carries the weight of his violent, aggressive past with him. Director Nopporn Watin delivers any number of scenes in which Ozeki stares moodily into the middle-distance while a voiceover tells us how anguished he is, but frankly his blank expression makes him look more like a man trying to remember his next line. Even worse are the scenes in which he falls in love with village maiden Champa, played by former beauty queen Kanokkorn Jaichuen. Watching this pair of talentless drips make gooey eyes at each other made me wish that the enemy samurai would hurry up and attack the village, offing one or both in the process.
Luckily, much of the action is handled by Thanawut Ketsaro, playing the Thai warrior who becomes Yamada’s blood-bother, who exudes a quiet, intense charisma and delivers the goods during the film’s fight sequences. Even when he’s paired alongside Ozeki, the camera sticks with him, showcasing an often breathtaking flurry of feet, knees and elbows as he takes on wave after wave of sword-wielding samurai. Unfortunately, Watin can’t help but ladle on the computer-assisted enhancements, particularly towards the end where he almost ruins a couple of otherwise thrilling action scenes with some terrible-looking CG gore and digital dismemberment.
Yamada: Way of the Samurai is a great looking film, with some beautiful photography that really captures the wild beauty of the region; sadly nice cinematography and a handful of exciting fights aren’t enough to redeem the plodding, utterly predictable storytelling. Nagamasa Yamada sounds like a fascinating part of both Japanese and Thai history, and perhaps deserves the impressive cinematic treatment that has been afforded the likes of Wong-Fei Hung or Ip Man in China and Hong Kong. Maybe further, better films about him are to come – hopefully next time with an actor who can actually do the role some justice.
