What The Makioka Sisters did for melodrama, Dora-Heita does for the samurai film, being both homage to and sly reinterpretation of this Golden Age staple. In 1999, Ichikawa brought to the screen a project written, and intended to be codirected, by himself, Kurosawa, Kinoshita, and Kobayashi in 1969, when the Committee of Four Knights, as they called themselves, had a short-lived production company. Koji Yakusho (The Eel, Shall We Dance?) has a delicious role here as good cop/bad cop in one, a samurai known for his dissipated tastes who is sent as magistrate to clean up a town known for its rampant corruption. Every society needs its toilet-bowl towns, the aging town councillors insist; a samurai's toilet is the cleanest room in his house, Dora-Heita replies. Gorgeous photography describes the architecture and indolence of a town whose inhabitants are unquestioningly devoted to prostitution, gambling, and smuggling. The hero's playful humor at his own expense is mirrored in the Hillary Clinton-like geisha girlfriend who has him on an obi-length leash. (JB)