Kuro Obi By Moosey Every so often someone comes along and designs a film that's targeted squarely at your inner-fanboy. Whether it's Transformers for the '80s kids or Twilight for the teenage goth girls, somewhere out there is someone who knows exactly what will make you track down a film like a bloodhound after a butcher's van. Whoever this person was, clearly had me in mind when they decided to make a beautifully-shot, philosophically-paced film about... karate! OK, the Koreans got there first with my favourite martial-arts-themed movie "Fighter in the Wind" (Paramui Paita) in 2004, but the advance publicity for the Japanese picture "Kuro Obi" promised a similarly professional piece of film-making, far away from the clipped Autralian voice dubs of '70s kung fu cinema or the comically sloppy brawls of Sonny Chiba. Kuro Obi also promised leading turns from shotokan black belt Naka Tatsuya and goju ryu black belt Yagi Akihito. Having finally tracked down an import copy of the DVD, I'm happy to report that a good film was the result. However, like Fighter in the Wind, I'd struggle to recommend it to someone looking for wall-to-wall action. The film follows two students of a karate master, seen at the start of the movie expanding on the concept of "karate ni sente nashi", or "there is no first attack in karate" (and helpfully adding "and no kicking either!"). They take different paths to try and earn his ceremonial black belt; one desperate to test his strength and fight his way to the top, the other determined to live with honour and respect by never using an aggressive technique (and no kicking either!). As you might expect, the pacifist student is the more sympathetic character but the violent one is more fun to watch. This being a karate movie though, the fights are very very short. Naka makes very good use of his meticulously-timed kizame tsuki to drop his enemies like a big sack of potato-based-snack-food (see below) while Yagi settles for damaging his enemies using his powerful defensive uchi uke to deter them from upsetting his pacifist principles. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxVOB4wNo9s"]YouTube[/ame] On the whole, this film's a very nice meditation on finding the balance between the different sides of martial arts training. However, the slow pacing and extremely curt fight scenes may discourage people more used to the seemingly invincible Hong Kong fighters. The cinematography and direction is first rate, lacking the stylish jump-cuts and heavy rock soundtrack of Fighter in the Wind, but posessing the air of a more weighty drama. The acting is also perfectly fine, with the two leads performing admirably well and the supporting cast being suitably, well, supporting. I still believe that there's a gap in the market for a well-made but action-heavy karate movie. But I would say that the field of karate-drama is currently well-served with this film. Rating: 3.5/4 Stars Personal Fanboydom: 10/10
I thought this movie was great when it came out. Naka & Yagi made the movie believable. Some of the dramatic scenes could have been fleshed out a bit more, but it was a martial arts movie made by martial artists. The special edition DVD goes into the making of the movie. Naka & Yagi spent months choreographing the movie in order to represent a faithful depiction of karate.
this movie gets my vote I happened to rent it last month, and loved it. I didn't fully understand the pacifist karate character's reluctance to hit bad guys hard (I've forgotten their names) nor the killer's obsession with possessing that belt (a belt you bully your classmate into giving you is not a belt earned) but I was mesmerized by the movie. Excellent directing, excellent acting, excellent choreography -- and yes, I'd agree that on the whole this was the best karate I've seen in a movie.
