Five years ago, acclaimed Japanese fashion photographer and music video director Kazuaki Kiriyamade an explosive and groundbreaking assault on the movie world with his directorial debut feature, the visually stunning and hugely ambitious sci-fi epic, ‘Casshern’. Now, Kiriya returns in his own inimitable style with the equally spectacular period, fantasy action-adventure, Goemon.
Produced by Kiriya and legendary producer Takashige Ichise (The Ring; Dark Water; The Grudge; Shutter) and boasting a star-studded cast that includes Yosuke Eguchi (Shaolin Girl), Takao Osawa (Ichi; Sky High), Jun Kaname (Blood; K-20; Casshern), Tetsuji Tamayama (Norwegian Wood; Casshern) and Susumu Terajima (Casshern; Ichi The Killer), Goemon is based on the exploits of the film’s eponymous, ninja bandit hero – the Japanese folklore equivalent of Robin Hood.
The year is 1582 and the ruler of Japan, Oda Nobunaga, has been brutally murdered leaving the country in a state of political chaos. Meanwhile, a chivalrous thief known as Goemon, whose loyalties lay with Nobunaga, has risen as a hero figure amongst the populace thanks to his propensity for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Goemon’s latest haul, stolen from one of his arch-enemies, includes a small wooden box of Western origin which he believes to be worthless and accidentally bestows upon a young street urchin. In truth, the box is a priceless artifact - a true Pandora’s box that holds a deep secret coveted and sought by Japan’s most powerful and deadly warlords.
Realising his error, Goemon seeks to regain possession of the box before it falls into the wrong hands. But its existence has also attracted the interests of a legendary swordsman, Matahachi, the legendary ninja Hattori Hanzo, and Goemon’s fearsome former friend and current rival, Saizo. With such a prize at stake, the stage is set for a series of bloody frays between Japan’s most skilled and deadly ninjas and swordsmen in a conflict that will have a profound effect on the country’s future.
Goemon (15) is released by Momentum Pictures and opens at selected UK cinemas on 23rd July 2010.
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