2007 · action · drama · martial-arts
Black Belt
Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki1h 35m2007
Set in 1932, amid the rise of militarism after the establishment of the Manchukuo colony in Northeast China, the story centers on a trio of karateka. Studying under their aging master in a small dojo in the woods of central Kyushu, Choei, Taikan and Giryu face a company of kempeitai military police come to requisition their dojo for use as a military base.
Our read: Black Belt (2007) reads as a neutral, kinetic, grounded action · drama · martial-arts entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Neutral, kinetic, measured action / drama, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- brisk
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