Monday, 28 March 2005¶

Recent Viewing (Kenji Misumi; Jarrold; Usher)¶

Zatôichi kenka-daiko, also known as The Blind Swordsman Samaritan, 1968. Directed by Kenji Misumi, writing by Kiyokata Saruwaka, Kan Shimozawa, Hisashi Sugiura, and Tetsuro Yoshida
Anonymous Rex, 2004. Directed by Julian Jarrold, writing by Eric Garcia (novel) and Joe Menosky. Slight, but watchable.
Mystery Men, 1999. Directed by Kinka Usher, writing by Bob Burden (comic book series by Dark Horse) and Neil Cuthbert. Slight, entertaining.

Rajan, by Tim Lukeman; Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979. This was the first of four projected books of oriental fantasy about the land of Khe’chin, but as far as I can tell only this one and Koren were actually written. I vaguely remember reading somewhere thatKhe’chin was inspired more by Korea than China, but my ignorance of Korean history, culture, and legends prevents me from judging whether that is so or not. It’s a pity that the series was never finished: Lukeman sets up an interesting background and situation. I might have read this one first during college, when I first had ready access to the Upshur County library, but I might have actually read it earlier in grade school or junior high when I might have borrowed it from the bookmobile. I re-read it because it was on the reading list of the Sorcerer & Sword RPG supplement, and it was well worth re-reading.