Shintaro Katsu

originals. Kenji Misumi brought operatic violence to a new level of distinction with bright red geysers of blood, buttressed with taught, stylish direction. Kenji Misumi employs impressionistic sound editing, lighting and staging: the implication of artifice is juxtaposed with beautifully choreographed violence. Wakayama Tomisaburo has a terrific and imposing presence, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the famed Ogami Itto, he may be large, but he’s also quick with a sword. There’s this great “all in the family” aspect of these films as well as the Zatoichi series. Wakayama Tomisaburo, brother of Shintaro Katsu (who starred as Zatoichi), who not only produced the later era of the Zatoichi films but this series as well. The best of The Lone Wolf and Cub, and Zatoichi films were directed by Kenji Misumi, (not to mention the Hanzo the Razor trilogy, also starring Katsu) so there’s an obvious camaraderie here that, over the years has yielded some great work. As the Zatoichi series was winding down the Lone Wolf and Cub Films began, marking a fruitful collaboration in the history of Japanese cinema. The first film is stable, fine on it;s own merits while it sets up the rest of the series, that's not to say there’s any shortage of action. In Japan “sequel” wasn’t a bad word, and they have been serializing films long before Marvel. The second in the series, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx is, in my opinion, the best in the six films. Wonderfully directed,…