Tornado (15) |Close-Up Film Review

This is  Samurai Western set in late 18th century Scotland, which writer/director John Maclean chooses to see as being analogous with the early Wild West and populated by a mixed bag of immigrants and natives –  French, African, Scottish and Japanese.

There’s a gang of ruthless outlaws/bandits led by Londoner Sugarman (Tim Roth).  His son Little Sugar (ah sweet!) is played by Scottish Jack Lowden.   There’s a black man in the gang just known as Psycho (Dennis Okwera) presumably hailing from Africa and most importantly for a Samurai Western, two characters are Japanese – Tornado the title character, played by Japanese actor, musician and model Mitsuki Kimura, or Kôki  and her father Fujin (Takehiro Hira).  It’s a fictional conceit, this imaginary Scotland – I don’t believe a word of it – and a wildly unlikely tale masquerading as history but the strange fantasy world it creates is a very effective and convincing one.

The film opens with a terrific sequence, which really grabs the attention.   Tornado is running for her life, with that  gang of burly men relentlessly plodding in pursuit.  She takes refuge in a stately home, the gang try to find her, doing a lot of damage in the process, including destroying a grand piano, but she manages a narrow escape.

We then find out more about her and what is going on.  She is the daughter of a Japanese father Fujin and an English mother, now deceased.  Tornado and her father roam the countryside in a covered wagon with other travelling entertainers putting on their Japanese marionette show – which involves a graphic beheading and a fountain of blood – and giving displays of traditional Samurai sword combat.

The gang turn up at the show and while they are distracted by the entertainment, a small boy, helped by Tornado, steals the stolen gold, which they are still  hauling around with them.  When the gang members realise what has happened, in their fury they set fire to all the wagons and kill a number of the performers, sadly including Fujin – which is a great shame as Hira plays him as pure Samurai and it would have been good to see more of him.   And that’s when Tornado goes on the run, defending herself against her pursuers with the skills she has learned from her father.

Shot in the wild country of the director’s Scottish homeland, the film looks wonderful – and feels very chilly.   Kôki is excellent as Tornado.   Roth is suitably menacing and ruthless as gang leader Sugarman as is Jack Lowden as his son, Little Sugar (sweet!).  They are backed up by their motley crew of henchman, doomed to get picked off one by one by Tornado. The climax is a bit of blood bath, proving that sword and arrow beats slow to load 18th century flintlock pistol hands, or rather arms down.   You’ll get the pun when you see the film and I urge you to do so.

It’s sometimes a bit tricky to keep track of the narrative but the director has a great sense of style and an original approach to storytelling, which promises well for his future films