Lone Wolf and Cub 2: Squee Tiddleypom

holyoutlaw came over again last night and we ordered a Basic Greek from Mad Pizza and watched Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, which is the second in the series of six samurai movies based on the manga. Apparently it's pretty widely considered the best in the series.

I confess that I was frequently reminded of Monty Python's Peckinpah parody "Salad Days," with all the body parts being lopped off and spraying geysers of blood. It all looks very fake, thank god, but it's still pretty mind-numbing after a while, here a foot, there a nose, and yonder a split cabeza. Japanese vampires must have it easy: just wait around with your mouth wide open until a samurai wanders by and creates a blood fountain.

Throughout this carnage, however, are some very interesting bits of characterization and ambiguous narrative. The love of the ronin protagonist for his infant son is very tender, and yet he does not let it become a means of leverage against him. (The reference in the title is actually to a river -- the Sanzu -- in the Japanese afterworld, and it isn't visited literally, although it is an important reference point in the story.) The character of the female assassin, Sayaka, is in many ways the most compelling in this movie, and once again, as with the sex scene in the first movie, there's a scene that is both exploitive (nekkid chick!) and amazingly, unexpectedly sweet, which manages to hint at depths to her character without getting sentimental. The very end -- a final encounter between her and the lone wolf and cub -- is also strange and open to interpretation.

Very odd movies. A little bit too much on the gory side for me to just love, but full of fascinating details. More please!