Waiting at home most of the day for repair men to arrive (who never did turn up!) I decided to watch a 2 hour film. Recently viewing Mikio Naruse's magnificent Untamed Woman (1957),I picked up a Masters of Cinema 1957 Japanese title afterwards, and today decided it was time to witness the end of the Shogunate.
View on the film:
Presenting a title loved in Japan but largely unknown in The West,Masters of Cinema present a great transfer, with the picture retaining a film grain, the soundtrack being clear,and the subtitles being easy to follow.
Released the year that the Japanese government took a hard line on prostitution and other vices, co-writer/(with Hisashi Yamanouchi and Shôhei Imamura) director Yûzô Kawashima & cinematographer Kuratarô Takamura take the viewer on a tour of the 19th century Shogunate-era brothel with magnetic fluidity,pulling the doors open for the camera to zip pass, and winding tracking shots along the maze of corridors within the building. Holding Saheiji at the brothel with a mountain of debt, Kawashima has Saheiji pay back with a criss-crossing comedic relish from the odd jobs of pointing a prostitute towards a new life on by a sea edge, and attempting to handle a group of samurai.
Created as part of the studios Nikkatsu sun-tribe/teenager genre/ output, the writers deliver a sharply allegorical edge, over the samurai group being frustrated with the treaties that the Shogunate region had signed with the US, taping into protests taking place in Japan over the post-WWII treaties (a "Free Japan" sword is shown on screen.) Thankfully not letting the title be weighed down by politics,the writers allow the movie to blossom with a wicked comedic wit, playfully spun by the prostitutes using all their enticing charms to leave clients empty handed and waiting. Threading the whole tale together,Furankî Sakai gives a dazzling performance as Saheiji, with Sakai keeping Saheiji's physical comedy exchanges flow with a rapid-fire zest, and a charming, breezy manner for the smooth comedic word-play of witnessing the last days of the Shogunate.
View on the film:
Presenting a title loved in Japan but largely unknown in The West,Masters of Cinema present a great transfer, with the picture retaining a film grain, the soundtrack being clear,and the subtitles being easy to follow.
Released the year that the Japanese government took a hard line on prostitution and other vices, co-writer/(with Hisashi Yamanouchi and Shôhei Imamura) director Yûzô Kawashima & cinematographer Kuratarô Takamura take the viewer on a tour of the 19th century Shogunate-era brothel with magnetic fluidity,pulling the doors open for the camera to zip pass, and winding tracking shots along the maze of corridors within the building. Holding Saheiji at the brothel with a mountain of debt, Kawashima has Saheiji pay back with a criss-crossing comedic relish from the odd jobs of pointing a prostitute towards a new life on by a sea edge, and attempting to handle a group of samurai.
Created as part of the studios Nikkatsu sun-tribe/teenager genre/ output, the writers deliver a sharply allegorical edge, over the samurai group being frustrated with the treaties that the Shogunate region had signed with the US, taping into protests taking place in Japan over the post-WWII treaties (a "Free Japan" sword is shown on screen.) Thankfully not letting the title be weighed down by politics,the writers allow the movie to blossom with a wicked comedic wit, playfully spun by the prostitutes using all their enticing charms to leave clients empty handed and waiting. Threading the whole tale together,Furankî Sakai gives a dazzling performance as Saheiji, with Sakai keeping Saheiji's physical comedy exchanges flow with a rapid-fire zest, and a charming, breezy manner for the smooth comedic word-play of witnessing the last days of the Shogunate.