The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 22, 2011

Winner of Japanese Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Yoji Yamada's "Kakushi ken oni no tsume" a.k.a. "The Hidden Blade" (2004) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama. Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release. In Japanese, with optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

On the beach

19th Century Japan. Samurai Munezo Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase, Pistol Opera, The Sea is Watching) and Samon Shimada (Hidetaka Yoshioka, Railroad Man, Always - Sunset on Third Street) bid goodbye to their close friend Hazama (Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Fireflies: River of Light, The Investigation Game), who is going to Edo to serve the powerful Unasaka clan.

Three years later. Munezo and Samon have started studying the new Western art of combat. Both have a difficult time understanding the lessons of their instructor but feel that times are changing. Munezo, in particular, is already convinced that it is only a matter of time before the samurai disappear.

One day, Munezo meets Kie (Takako Matsu, Suite Dreams, Confessions), a beautiful girl who used to work as a servant for his family. Kie has become a housewife but is treated as an animal by her husband and his family. When Munezo buys her a small gift, she immediately begins crying. Before they part ways, Munezo invites her to visit his home.

A couple of months later, Munezo is informed that Kie has fallen seriously ill. Despite Samon’s warnings not to visit her while her husband is away, Munezo heads to Kie's home - and after he discovers that she has literally been abandoned by her husband’s family in a cold and dark room, he carries her out, demanding that a divorce statement is prepared as soon as possible.

Kie gets better. She begins cleaning Munezo’s house, washing his clothes and preparing some of his favorite dishes. She even recites beautiful poems to Munezo, which years ago his mother taught her.

Meanwhile, Hazama is brought back home in a cage. After years of service, he has been found guilty of conspiracy to kill the Shogun and denied the right to commit hara-kiri . When he manages to escape, the Senior Retainer (Ken Ogata, Vengeance Is Mine, The Pillow Book) asks Munezo to hunt down and kill his old friend Hazama.

A good companion piece to director Yoji Yamada’s The Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade tells two different stories. The first is about an impossible relationship. Munezo and Kie fall madly in love but because of their different social status - he is a low caste samurai while she is an ordinary girl - are forced to part ways.

The second story is about the end of an era. As Japan slowly opens up to the West, centuries-old canons and beliefs are challenged and gradually replaced, causing massive confusion amongst the samurai and their masters. Some recognize the fact that times are changing and they have to adjust, while others maintain that the old order has to be upheld.

The film builds slowly, allowing the viewer to get a good feel of the unusual atmosphere. Naturally, the samurai’s struggles, even the ones that culminate with a few rather hilarious experiments and demonstrations, look authentic.

The finale is intense and effective but admittedly somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the lack of showy machismo that typically plagues similarly themed period projects works to the film’s advantage. The emphasis on detail is also quite impressive.

Note: In 2005, The Hidden Blade won Best Art Direction Award (Mitsuo Degawa and Yoshinobu Nishioka) at the Japanese Academy Awards.

The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama.

The film has a warm and soft but pleasing look, boasting a light yellowish tint. Fine detail and clarity, however, are not affected by these stylistic adjustments - the close-ups convey pleasing depth while the few panoramic vistas have a nice fluid look. There are no traces of overzealous sharpening. Some mild filtering has been applied, but it is difficult to tell how much of it is not intended to support the film's unique period look. As mentioned earlier, detail most definitely isn't compromised. Heavy banding and aliasing do not plague the high-definition transfer. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. All in all, this Blu-ray release represents a solid upgrade in terms of visual quality over the old R1 SDVD release of the film Tartan Video produced in 2006. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Panorama have provided optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature.

The Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is strong. It opens up the entire film very well, though Isao Tomita's soundtrack does not get the strong dynamic boost I hoped it would. The surround channels, however, are very effective, especially during the intense finale. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. I also did not detect any problematic audio dropouts, pops, cracks, or hiss to report in this review. The English translation is very good.

The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are absolutely no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc whatsoever.

The Hidden Blade Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade is one of a select few contemporary samurai films in which style and substance are exceptionally well balanced. If interested in the subject it explores, I urge you to consider importing Panorama's Blu-ray release. If you reside in a Region-B territory, please keep in mind that this is a Region-A "locked" release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.