Premodern Japanese literature in translation mostly draws from a small pool of universally acknowledged classics. But as Fumihiko Sori’s enlightening if unwieldy action film “Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality” reminds us, one writer from the Edo Period (1603-1868), Takizawa Bakin, churned out pulp fiction that had a large and lasting impact on Japanese pop culture.
Are you a fan of Akira Toriyama’s “Dragon Ball” manga series, which spawned a massively successful franchise? How about Kinji Fukasaku’s 1978 “Message from Space,” the Japanese film industry’s answer to “Star Wars”? They, as well as countless other media properties, took inspiration from Bakin’s magnum opus, “Satomi Hakkenden,” which was published in 108 volumes over the course of 28 years, from 1814 to 1842.
Unlike previous film versions, Sori’s “Hakkenden” presents both a bio of Bakin (Koji Yakusho) and a live-action digest of his novel, with the latter featuring the sort of snazzy digital effects characteristic of Sori’s sci-fi work, including his “Fullmetal Alchemist” trilogy (2017-22).
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