Customer Ratings & Reviews

Let it be known that Ryuhei Kitamura is a rising director in Japanese cinema - perhaps the greatest today. He already has a plethora of wonderful titles under his belt, including 'Versus', 'Sky High' (NOT the horrid American kid's flick), 'Azumi', and 'Alive'. He is also the director of the upcoming Clive Barker film, 'Midnight Meat Train.' Aragami: The Raging God of Battle, is a film shot entirely in one week and featuring only five actors (two of which actually have significant screen time/dialogue). The story centers around two samurai who seeks refuge in a temple, fleeing from the horrors of war. Badly wounded upon arrival, they are taken in. The film then cuts to the awakening of one of the samurai (the other did not survive his wounds), who is persuaded to stay in the temple and share and meal and drink with his host, a man curious in nature who shares his domain with a silent, obedient woman. As the night transpires, a few revelations come to pass and the samurai finds himself locked in a climactic battle. The story picks up rather quickly, and the battle is both spectacular to behold as it is minimalistic in scope; the special features even mention that in filming they went more for the two warriors striking "cool-looking poses" quite often. Still, there is a good deal of choreographed fighting, though not as much as one would expect. An all-out action flick this is not; it is rather a character-driven narrative, which succeeds in its efforts miraculously through the use of only two central characters (an endeavor that is not so easy to pull off). I recommend this film to fans of Japanese cinema, good story-telling, and downright good filmmaking in general. Whether you love it or see the movie as complete trash, it is absolutely breathtaking to see what a group of individuals can do with only one week to shoot a feature-length film.