Blade of the Immortal

Takashi Miike's epically blood-strewn swordplay saga follows a samurai cursed with immortal life, who teams up with a young girl to avenge the murder of her parents.

Following a vicious battle Manji (Takuya Kimura), is trapped in an eternal purgatory when a witch feeds him sacred bloodworms which make it impossible for him to die, forcing him to relive his culpability in his sister's painful death. He sees a chance for redemption when he a meets a young girl whose parents have been murdered by a savage samurai clan.

Marketed as the 100th feature film in cult director Takashi Miike's absurdly prolific film career (although discerning the precise number of his directorial credits isn't so straightforward), Blade of the Immortal has been acclaimed as one of Miike's most accomplished works since its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival 2017. The third in a trio of period 'chanbara' tales (following 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) in which Miike again calls on the healthy budgets and prestige production values of legendary British producer Jeremy Thomas, Blade of the Immortal also exhibits the trademark tenets of anarchic zest, freeform gore and wild humour that we've come to expect from this irrepressibly workaholic fimmaker.