This film, starring Nakadai Tatsuya as Musashi and Onoe as Kojiro, is very visually driven. Throughout its long runtime, the film takes our strong-willed, and fickle Kojiro from his hometown, to Okinawa, through raids, festivals, and a final battle on a sandy beach.
The acting was fine. There is not much of Musashi in this movie, so if you are wishing only to see their climactic battles, look elsewhere in Inagaki's list of films. I was surprised many times at the turns and new developments within the film. Inagaki definitely took artistic liberty, as I have never heard of such things in Kojiro's life before-and I was fine with it. Inagaki did a great job.
The only problem I did have with the film involved some fight choreography. At the same time that some great stuff was coming out of Japan, fight-wise, this film was driven more by its plot. In that manner, the fights were a bit neglected.
I will most likely watch this film again. Many, many, many films around this time take place in inns, buildings, gray towns, or Shogunate offices, and this film was a great departure into the colorful.
