Aiki

On the surface, this is not so very different from something like Karate Kid. Taichi (Kato) is paralysed from the waist down after a motorcycle accident, but gradually regains his self-respect after he falls in with a 'shrine maiden' and some small time hoods, and takes up aiki-jujutsu, the most mysterious and spiritual of all martial arts. 'You have only one power, the power not to oppose but to accept,' his mentor, Ishibashi, tells him. Writer/director Tengan is the son of Shohei Imamura, and he has script credits on his father's last three films as well as Audition. His visual style is clean and unfussy, and this modest film never sentimentalises paraplegia, but the most arresting aspect is certainly aiki-jujutsu. In the climax, wheelchair-bound Taichi sends flying a man three times his strength. And don't miss the end credit roll.