Noir martial arts film Bunraku film details

Bunraku is a noir martial arts live-action/animation hybrid film, that revolves around a mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and an ardent young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt), who both arrive in a town that is terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his separate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil “woodcutter” and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secret past. This classic tale is re-vitalized and re-imagined in an entirely fresh visual context, set in a unique world that mixes skewed reality with shadow-play fantasy, a place where even the landscape can betray you. Heroes triumph here only because the force of their will transforms and transcends both space and time. The world of BUNRAKU is past and present, fantasy and reality, Samurai and Western all combined. Like Sin City and 300, it gives classic conflict a whole new graphically supercharged dynamic. Resonating through a wide range of cultures and showcasing a mind-blowing array of martial arts disciplines, BUNRAKU is a fresh arena for breath-taking fight action.

The film has been described by the production company as:

A spaghetti-Western-samurai-gangster mashup

Production Companies: IM Global, Snoot Entertainment

Filming location: Bucharest, Romania

Writer and Director: Guy Moshe (directed Holly)

Producers: Keith Calder (The Wackness, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), Jessica Wu, Ram Bergman, Nava Levin (Guy Moshe’s previous film Holly)

Cast
Josh Hartnett (Thirty Days of Night, Sin City)
Demi Moore (Mr. Brooks, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle)
Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men, Natural Born Killers)
Ron Perlman (Hellboy)
Gackt (Moon Child, New Fist of the North Star)
Shun Sugata (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, The Last Samurai)
Jordi Molla (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Blow)
Kevin McKidd (Made of Honor)
Newcomer Emily Kaiho

No release date is currently set for Bunraku.

Film Fetish Trivia: Ram Bergman, one of the producers on Bunraku, also produced the modern noir crime thriller Brick in 2005, directed by Rian Johnson. Johnson is currently finishing up The Brothers Bloom, which Bergman also produced.