The sword - based combat was expanded in later sequels, but Wind Waker's single - button combos and reactive, defensive
swordplay remain a brilliantly simple approach to action.
At the same time, Uchida is responsible for some of the most remarkable
swordplay films of the 1950s and»60s; his five - film Musashi Miyamoto epic (not screened at MOMA), starring Kinnosuke Nakamura in the title role and Ken Takakura as his arch-nemesis Kojiro, surpasses the better - known Inagaki Samurai Trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune in terms of both drama and
swordplay, yet
remains little - known in the West (despite its availability on DVD in the U.S.) After the BAM retrospective (and others) in 2008, most of Uchida's films
remained unscreened and undistributed in America, so with MOMA's bigger series recently ending, it's time again to encourage distributors like the Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, and Arrow Video to bring out more of the director's masterpieces, both for critical reconsideration and for those whom the veteran filmmaker will be a major new discovery.