Zatoichi: The Tale of Zatoichi

The film that launched one of the longest-running character franchises in cinema. Zatoichi is a blind travelling masseur and gambler who is also, quietly, the most lethal swordsman in Japan, and the series would run to twenty-five-plus entries and a television show. This first film is restrained and melancholy, establishing the character before the sequels turned him loose.

Shintaro Katsu owns the role so completely that no one else has ever really taken it on. The appeal is the gap between the humble, shuffling exterior and the sudden, precise violence.