Azumi

Ryuhei Kitamura works his magic again with another fantastic entry in the samurai film genre. Azumi is an assassin in training and she and her friends find themselves charged with assassinating warlords who are bringing nothing but death and destruction to Japan. The frist falls easily but the second warlord has some tricks up his sleeve and it becomes all out war to save the country from his maniacal ways. Some will die along the way but not before the body count of their enemies skyrockets.

Utilizing his camera as a weapon, Kitamura breaks all boundaries in this film, supplying lots of gore and stylish fight scenes and dizzying camerawork. Indeed, if you are drunk or get vertigo easily, you might want to pass on parts of the decisive end fight where the camera loops around the two fighters like a tilt-a-whirl, resulting in a spectacular but disorienting effect.

A solid epic, Azumi will leave you panting for more with the breadth of its tale and the sheer beauty of the lead. If you like to see people get slashed with swords and enjoy comical and quirky characters, then this is the film for you.