by Chris MaGeeHitoshi Matsumoto has got himself a really interesting career. He makes up one half of on e of the best known Japanese comedy duos in history, Downtown, and he's a ubiquitous presence on Japanese TV. He also makes movies, starting out with "Big Man Japan" in 2007 and then "Symbol" in 2009. Both were received by lukewarm reviews from many Japanese critics, but North American audiences love them. Almost seems like Matsumoto is taking a page from the Takeshi Kitano career handbook...
Last October we reported on how Matsumoto was bringing his third feature length directorial effort to the screen, and that it would star an unknown Shinjuku bar owner Takaaki Nomi in the lead role. There weren't many other details besides that, but this week our new staff writer Nicholas Vroman sent a quick email saying take a look at this... a very strange teaser trailer for this new film titled "Saya Samurai". There were some stills floating around from the film at the turn of the year (check them out here at Twitch), but this teaser is something we hadn't seen before. A samurai in Coke bottle glasses, and covered in... well, we're not sure what he's covered in. With the sketchy plot detail that Nomi plays a samurai named Kanjuro who becomes a ronin after leaving his clan it looks as if "Saya Samurai" will remain a ystery in the same way Matsumoto's "Symbol" did for a very long time.
Check out the teaser trailer for Hitoshi Matsumoto's "Saya Samurai" below. The film is due for release in Japanese theatres in June.
The samurai in Coke bottle glasses appears to me to be a reference to Harold Lloyd. In Symbol, in the sequence featuring the Kiss-like rock band, the drummer's face is painted with Harold Lloyd-like Corbus.
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