Review by Yukikaze

I thought this movie was pretty good, the only downside is that i saw this movie in japanese with english subtitle so it was a bit hard to catch what it was all about. but this movie is really good, it has it humor side, sad and believe or not gory side to.. the only thing i didn't like was how it ended. i totally suspected somthing else. but its still a really good movie.

Takeshis' finds him playing two roles: one is a version of his real-life actor persona, Beat Takeshi; the other is a mild-mannered convenience store clerk/amateur actor named Kitano. The lives and the dreams of the two men intersect and parallel each other continuously throughout the film. Actors, scenes, and elements from Kitano's other films (Sonatine, Kikujiro, Brother, and Zatoichi to name a few) show up frequently as the two men have waking dreams involving each other's lives. The Beat Takeshi of the film is almost a stylized version of his real self, as the public might perceive him. This feeds into the fantasies of the clerk Kitano, who dreams of being Beat Takeshi, taking out his frustrations with the world in a hail of gunfire, just like in the movies. The film is constantly jumping between reality and fantasy, from one character to another, rooted in the present but with flashes into the future. It can make it difficult to follow at times, leaving you to wonder whose perspective is being shown on screen and whether it exists in the dream world or the real world or something in between.

"Shinobi" opens with an accidental meeting between ninja warriors Gen-no-suke (Jo Odagiri) and Oboro (Yukie Nakama). The two are members of opposing ninja clans that have been at war for 400 years; she of the Iga, and he of the Kouga. It's love at first sight, but alas, they are very much star crossed lovers, and as Oboro sighs, only meant to be together "in their dreams". Oboro and Gen-no-suke's forbidden love is made worst when the Shogun, fearing that rebels may use the ninja clans as instruments of insurrection, revokes the long-held truce between the ninjas, thereby allowing them to kill one another once more. Doubly worst, Oboro and Gen-no-suke gets chosen as the leaders of their respective battle squads, and must face off in deadly combat for the right to survive. At less than 2 hours, "Shinobi" is sadly too short, and a longer running time is needed not only to explore the film's many fascinating ninja characters, but also to fully delve into the reasoning behind the Shogun's decision to kill off the Iga and Kouga. "Shinobi" more than exceeded my expectations.

Screenplay of this movie (of course in Japanese) is excellent and I was enough convinced by its story - why we are living, who fought for the country. It was great tragedy that only 15-17 years old boys required to fight in the war without knowing the meaning/reason of life. This movie (or original book written by Jun Henmi) is now my recommendation to know there were people who fought for their country. I oppose to any wars by any mean. But, I respect the men who fought.

The story involves a bunch of characters in which the main character, an actress, begins to have hallucinations. She constantly sees a little girl holding a creepy looking doll (typical horror item) whom no one else notices. As the story progresses, she's hired to act in a horror film that is based on a true story, where a crazy professor has killed eleven people in a hotel. While acting, she notices strange things (seeing things that shouldn't be there) and causes her to have a very bad feeling about the entire movie. At the same time, another girl is convinced she's having memories from a previous life as she has had dreams about the same hotel ever since she was a young girl, though she's never actually been there. So she begins to search for an answer. The music is absolutely killer, it's really a perfect match to the movie. To be honest, I'm still influenced by the psychological horror portrayed by the characters. Late at night, I'm unwilling to turn off the light for fear of having to encounter a "jo-chan" and her "ningyen". The doll is truly horrific.