Kenki (The Sword Devil). 1965. Japan. Directed by Kenji Misumi. Screenplay by Siji Hoshikawa, based on the novel by Renzaburo Shibata. With Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Sugata, Goro Mutsumi. 4K restoration courtesy of Kadokawa Corporation and Janus Films. In Japanese; English subtitles. 83 min.
Kenji Misumi’s so-called Sword Trilogy is a revelation. Made in rapid succession between 1962 and 1965—and recently restored in 4K by the Kadokawa Corportation—Kiru (1962), Ken (1964), and Kenki (1965) brought a thrilling vitality to a familiar Japanese genre, and helped launch the career of Raizo Ichikawa, Japan’s answer to James Dean, a tough, soulful actor who, like his American counterpart, died tragically young. Misumi, a prolific filmmaker who brought an idiosyncratic style to popular Japanese genres like the chanbara (sword fighting film) and jidai-geki (period piece), was a former Soviet prisoner of war in Siberia and an assistant to Teinosuke Kinugasa on Gate of Hell (1953) who later became internationally famous for his movie adaptations of the wildly violent and successful Lone Wolf and Cub manga.
Kenki, Misumi’s film about a “sword devil,” was a box office disappointment, it nonetheless furthers a tradition of strong but silent avengers that hearkens back to Gary Cooper and anticipates Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name and Forest Whittaker’s Ghost Dog. Shot in almost unreal color, the film centers on Raizo Ichikawa as a shy, sensitive cultivator of flowers who restores peace in shockingly violent ways.