Choose The Sword takes a (brief) look at the film series Lone Wolf and Cub. Twice a month, Jon and Chris share their impressions of each film, both on its own terms and its intersection in the Cinema Dual hosts’ lives.
FROM THE BOX: Balancing physical action with Buddhist musings on life and death, the most spiritual of the Lone Wolf and Cub films finds Ogami’s combat skills put to the test by five different warrior-messengers.
WHAT JON THOUGHT: In Baby Cart at the River Styx, the assassination job Ogami is hired for is to kill an artisan who is prepared to betray his clan to the Shogun because of the clan’s poor treatment of its workers. I reflected at the time that the movie was completely unprepared to dig into the underlying reasons for why someone might turn traitor. It is my delight then to report that Baby Cart in the Land of Demons actually does somewhat complicate the assassination mission. In addition to killing a priest that’s trying to expose a scandal in the Kuroda clan, Ogami is recruited to also kill the compromised Kuroda lord, his mistress, and the 5 year-old daughter he’s posing as his son (the real son being imprisoned in the castle). That last part might give one pause, so I guess it’s to the screenwriter’s credit that the only thing the girl does in the whole movie is to sentence Ogami and Daigoro to die, so I suppose that justifies the child murder.
In fact, I would say that purely from a story perspective, I find Baby Cart in the Land of Demons to be the most successful so far. The five Kuroda messengers that have a portion of the payment and mission info for Ogami walk just up to the line of parody but don’t cross it, and as such it works great. Ogami rarely gets an adversary that’s worthy of his skills, but an early encounter with the target Abbott Jikei actually leaves Ogami sweaty and retreating. Jikei actually psyches out Ogami by throwing a bunch of Buddhism at him.
But in a series called Lone Wolf & Cub, what stands out about Baby Cart in the Land of Demons is that it finally gives Daigoro a meaningful subplot. Not since Daigoro had to choose the sword (wink) have we seen Daigoro do much beyond the occasional kidnapping plot and activating a secret weapon in the cart. Here Daigoro is asked by a pickpocket to both hold onto the money she stole and also not tell anyone who gave him the money. He’s immediately apprehended by the local cops who suspect he’s in league with the pickpocket, but he refuses to divulge any information, even when the cops publicly flog him in front of the entire town in order to lure the pickpocket out of hiding. His refusal to comply even convinces the pickpocket to give up her pickpocketing ways. As horrified as everyone is, they’re also impressed. To give a real toddler a meaningful thing to do in an samurai action movie is a challenge, but they actually manage here.
WHAT CHRIS THOUGHT: Taking a break from the franchise seems to have done Kenji Misumi a world of good, because Baby Cart in the Land of Demons feels like the most complete, fulfilling entry in the Lone Wolf and Cub series. It dials down the exploitation in favor of a (slightly) more nuanced view of the decisions Ogami makes with his assassinations, it gives Daigoro a chance to have his own adventure and demonstrate the impact walking the path of Hell has done to his upbringing. And it’s all accomplished with some of Misumi’s most effective directing yet, emphasizing his brilliant use of frames within frames and vivid splashes of color to heighten both the drama and the stellar action. You get one-on-one duals, massive battles, and Ogami’s secret water blade stance. Plus he fights a party of bandits in his underwear: few could ask for more.
In a series with eye (and breast) popping openings, I love the juxtaposition of the masked riders rampaging toward the camera, the film’s titles in bold red and blue with the more serene scene of Ogami and Daigoro leaving offerings at a cemetery. The colors are incredible – particularly the greens, and together with cinematographer Fujio Morita Misumi brings in some wonderful moments of deep focus and just exquisite framing as Ogami is tested five times in order to receive the full story and payment for his assassination. It’s a great way to shake up what was becoming a stale sequence, and the way it builds allows the drama to amp up, especially once complete and Ogami is pressed into another, more diabolical plot.
ANYTHING ELSE, JON? Even if the reunion isn’t to be a permanent one, I’m with Chris that it’s good to see Kenji Misumi return to the series. The staging and cinematography is firing as good as it ever has in this series, and we finally get Ogami on a horse. At the very least, I don’t remember the baby cart being dragged behind a horse before, which I thought was a neat touch. My favorite sequence this time around was the river sequence where Ogami sneaks up behind Abbott Jikei’s convoy by swimming underneath them, and then using his sword to saw a perfectly circular hole underneath Jikei so that he can sneak Jikei out from under his bodyguards and complete the mission. It’s silly and wholeheartedly fun.
ANYTHING ELSE, CHRIS? Having now also watched some of Misumi’s other films, I can see common themes emerging, particularly around fathers and sons. Not only is it fresh to have Daigoro involved in his own subplot, but the way they execute it gives us another sense of the toll the overall journey is taking on both Daigoro and Ogami. Although there are moments where Daigoro’s steely resolve is played for laughs, I can’t help but think of the scene in Baby Cart in Peril where one of Ogami’s enemies upon encountering Daigoro notes the darkness reflected in his eyes. I think Ogami watching from the crowd begins to understand the deeper meaning of the choice he gave his son; this time, instead of using him as bait to catch a killer, he tentatively holds his hand as they walk away from the lashes taken in defense of the pickpocket.
On a less serious note, I completely agree with Jon’s take on the theft of the letter and the entire underwater escapade. When the movie wants to be fun it’s incredibly fun: the chase and fight in his underwear, attaching the cart to the horse…the action pieces continue to be a highlight. But now he’s balancing it with some real gravitas. The ending, with Shiranui, the young woman who initiates the final assassinations committing seppuku and slowly crumpling in the background as Ogami sails away is a breathtaking ending that stayed with me after the credits rolled.
THE FINAL WORD(S): For Jon and Chris, Baby Cart in the Land of Demons is the series’ return to form, in all the best ways. A true winner.
NEXT TIME: The film adventures of Ittō and Daigoro come to a conclusion in Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell.
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