Kuro-obi is a brilliant and underappreciated karate movie.

 

I love martial arts movies. There's something so enjoyable about sitting down and watching the martial arts action with a side of philosophy mixed in. For this blog post, I wanted to bring more attention to and focus on a very underappreciated and underrated karate movie from the mid 2000s. The 2007 karate drama, Kuro-Obi, released in 2007 and directed by Shunichi Nagasaki. 

Kuro-Obi takes place in 1932, a time when the Japanese had occupied Manchuria. Karate master Eiken Shibahara trains 3 rather promising students at the Shibahara dojo. One day, the Japanese military shows up and demands that the sensei and his students vacate the premises as the dojo is know the property of the military. Needless to say, this does not sit well with the students with Taikan challenging Captain Tanihara to a duel. Choei tries to stop it, but gets a deep wound on his arm for his troubles. After Taikan bests several of the troops, Shibahara demands that he stop and urges Giryu to duel the captain. Giryu beats the captain without striking first and refuses to kill the soldier. 

Shortly after the duels are over, Shibahara dies, leaving the students to decide just who among them is worthy of the black belt. Taikan accepts the position of instructor to the military forces, leading him down a dark path full of death of violence as well as sake and women. It is the very opposite of what Shibahara taught him. Meanwhile, Giryu does his best to take a more philosophical approach, following his sensei's teachings and being much more passive. 

Giryu is an interesting character. He is good-natured and well meaning, but is frustrating to watch at times. There's a scene in which he stands by and does nothing as a bunch of loan sharks take away Hana, a woman which he had been living with and who had nursed him back to health. Hana's little brother, Kenta rightfully calls Giryu a coward for not intervening. In that moment, Giryu is far, far too passive and it is rather pathetic of him. Thankfully, later on, he learns his lesson. 

Taikan's path is much more fun to watch, despite him being the dark version of Giryu. He uses his strength to aid the military in commandeering various dojos across the land via defeating the sensei's in duels. Choei is there to witness Taikan's fall to the dark side, but Taikan refuses his efforts to stop him and claims that his way is true strength. Giryu and Taikan are like a yin yang and it's not until the inevitable showdown that they finally fully grasp the teachings of Shibahara. 

Shunichi Nagasaki is a talented film-maker and it shows in Kuro-Obi. It's such a sober, often at times understated approach that lends itself well to the underlying themes of the movie. He used a wide array of shot types and camera techniques, including a little shaky cam that help bring the narrative to life. There's a great usage of grey tones within the final showdown to really make it a stand out sequence and help drive home the emotion and tension within the scene. I also enjoyed the opening montage that was reminiscent of a documentary with still images and a professional narration. The training sequences were also rather cool with the footage of Giryu training under a waterfall and Taikan in the fields. 

The fight scenes are definitely a highlight of the movie. There's nothing like a Jackie Chan parkour kung fu sequence or wire work filled over the top nonsense. No, instead, Kuro-Obi makes full use of the karate backgrounds of its main stars. Certain fights are over before they even begin with accurate and realistic movements being used in place of the more flashy stuff typically found in movies. There are the odd spinning attacks thrown in, but they are typically countered. The camera work is also fantastic as every punch, kick and throw is perfectly framed within the centre of the shot. Taikan gets the best fight sequences throughout the movie as well as the most, with the climatic showdown being the very best. 

Overall, Kuro-Obi is a brilliant martial arts movie and even better karate one. It handles action the correct way with no special effects nor wire work or over the top fight scenes. The acting is surprisingly great considering the fact that the main cast are martial artists first and foremost.