Zatoichi

Zatoichi is a blind masseur and gambler who travels through nineteenth-century Japan, earning a living at dice tables and with his hands. Behind that modest routine he is a formidable swordsman, and the cane he carries hides a blade. He arrives in a mountain town controlled by the Ginzo gang, whose leader removes anyone who opposes him and has lately been helped by a skilled ronin named Hattori. In a gambling house, Zatoichi and his young companion Shinkichi meet two geishas, Okinu and Osei, who have come to avenge their murdered parents with only the name Kuchinawa to guide them. Their goals and Zatoichi's path converge against the gang.

Takeshi Kitano directed and wrote the film, which was adapted from the long-running tales of the blind swordsman created by Kan Shimozawa. It was his ninth film as director, following Brother and preceding Takeshis', and it was made for around 3 million dollars, going on to earn roughly 32 million worldwide. Kitano plays the title role, with Tadanobu Asano as Hattori Genosuke, Yui Natsukawa as Oshino and Guadalcanal Taka as Shinkichi.

Reception was solid across the board: on IMDb it sits at 7.4 from about 53,000 votes and on TMDB at 7.2 from nearly a thousand, while a critics' rating of 7.3 from 123 reviews places professional opinion in much the same range as the general audience.