Blade of the Immortal (5 Stars)

This is the tenth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

This is Takashi Miike's 100th film, and it's a masterpiece!

Beneath the excessive blood-letting there are serious questions asked. For the Japanese honour is important. A good person wants to do what is right. But consider the following situation:

Someone has killed your father, so you vow revenge. That's good, isn't it? You're righting a wrong that's been done.

But then you find out the man who killed your father killed him to get revenge for your father killing his father. In that case you're doing wrong by supporting your father's evil action.

Or maybe your father didn't do evil after all. Maybe he killed the man to get revenge for him killing his father, your grandfather. That would make your actions good again. Unless, of course, your grandfather was killed to get revenge for someone he had killed.

The initial act of evil can be lost in the course of generations. One act of revenge leads to another. How can you be certain if you're doing right or wrong?

This is a magnificent film, the best I've seen that was made by Takashi Miike.