Cinema Talk

Only one year prior to this film, Kenji Mizoguchi made Gion Bayashi – a wonderful slice-of-life type drama that reflects the director at his most subdued. That film is much more along the lines of Ozu and Naruse. In 1954, along with this film, Mizoguchi also made Sansho the Bailiff, a poetic but slightly too sentimental film that is often regarded as his greatest achievement. The contrast in style isn’t too overwhelming but both of those films represent two sides of Mizoguchi’s film making. Yet, Chikamatsu Monogatari doesn’t really fall into either category. It is melodramatic and theatrical, but it’s emotional impact is unaffected and unparalleled.

Osan is married to the wealthy Ishun, but their relationship is strictly superficial. Confusion in the city leads to many accusing her of having an affair with Mohei. They flee the city, at first to avoid punishment. However, as they continue to dodge Ishun’s men, their relationship grows. They fall hopelessly in love and the final result is, as the title implies, tragic.

Mizoguchi has quite an infamous off-screen reputation. He was stabbed by a prostitute, threw tantrums, beat his actors, and even worse, trashed Naruse. For better or worse, I had never see this type of anger manifested in any of his films. In a sort of similar fashion, Vincent Gallo is not completely likable off the screen but in a film like The Brown Bunny we see him, or at least we see what we think of him. In other words, he (along with the film) is self-indulgent, which tends to be used as a negative term in film criticism. Chikamatsu Monogatari is extremely self-indulgent, but for me, that’s part of it’s appeal. I’d hate to say the film is endearing simply because Mizoguchi decides to be so transparent in his feelings but that’s why it “got” to me.

Of course, a lot of the film’s unrelentless romanticism is most likely a result of the story’s source, a bunraku play written by Monzaemon Chikamatsu in the 17th century. At times, the dramatic coincidences and the theatrical acting become unbearable, especially when put up against Gion Bayashi but this film ends up feeling a lot more genuine. As great as Gion is, it’s pretty much just a Naruse/Ozu film with some of Mizoguchi’s usual stylistic touches. This, on the other hand, feels like a true Mizoguchi film – harm treatment of the main characters in a story that gets more and more tragic by the minute. 

The sheer melodrama of the typical Mizoguchi story arc is not something that appeals to me greatly but Mizoguchi himself feels well aware of the cinematic limitations that such a narrative brings. He indulges in enough human agony that the film, while over-the-top, never lapses into self-parody. Even though such a story obviously couldn’t occur today, the character’s emotions are undoubtedly real. If one can’t adjust to such relentless heartbreak, they can at least appreciate the film’s beautiful cinematography. I’ve always liked Mizoguchi quite a bit, but my respect for him (at least as filmmaker) greatly increased after watching this. It seems that most Mizoguchi fans don’t see this the way I do; a flawed, misunderstood masterpiece that displays all of his faults but more importantly, all of his strengths.

Working on a biographical documentary doesn’t seem to cramp Shunji Iwai’s technical ambitions. In an almost remarkable achievement, he, as the title suggests, tells the Kon Ichikawa story but without any voice over. The story is instead told through inter titles, clips, animated still photographs (a misstep on Iwai’s part), and reenacted childhood occurrences. It seems as though Iwai has filtered his usual stylistic excess into something that’s suppose to be “classy” but I like this film quite a bit in any case.

Of course, I should admit up front that I am a fan of Ichikawa’s films but I still think there were many positive factors provided by Iwai, himself. The inter titles, in particular, gain an almost poetic profoundness. I also like Iwai’s decision to reenact some unimportant events in Ichikawa’s early life as well as his decision to not reenact anything that happened to Ichikawa once he became an adult. I suppose the film could be blamed for giving Ichikawa’s life a “tragic” tilt but it’s nowhere near as bad as the characterization in the Cassavetes documentary that appears on the Criterion set. In all honesty, I was almost in tears by the end. This is to Iwai’s credit as he gives the film a very (Chris Marker-esque) memory mood and applies to the relationship between Ichikawa and his screen writing collaborator/wife Natto Wada. The announcement of her death is just as tragic as anything I’ve seen in a fictional film. This does have problems, though, like bad music and the animated stock footage. There’s self-indulgent touches as well, but this is Iwai’s love letter to Ichikawa and little could be done to make it better.

On the surface, this may seem to be an early example of the Japanese exploitation films that would become very popular about five years later. In fact, this film occasionally feels like Seijun Suzuki’s own interpretation, if only for the technicolor cinematography and the presence of some sleazy elements. However, past the surface, this is still very much a Tomu Uchida film. His compassion towards his character and the issues they face, is handled delicately and his semi-cynical humor is as apparent as ever. Still, I’d be lying if I said this was on the same level as Uchida’s own Bloody Spear on Mount Fuji.

Sano, a wealthy silk merchant, has it all financially, but a scar on his face has crippled his love life. On a trip to Yoshiwara, he meets Otsuru, the only prostitute willing to spend time with him. As an ex-convict, she is also looked down upon by her peers. Sano realizes that she may be the only woman who isn’t disgusted by him and he invests almost all his money into setting her free. The feeling is not mutual, Otsuru is using Sano’s money to begin a new life with her husband, a man whose existence is unknown to Sano.

Tomu Uchida is, once again, delicate in establishing his character and once again, he makes the occasional violent outbursts have real emotional repercussions. He also structures the action sequence – in relation to the rest of the narrative – in the same way as Bloody Spear but both instances are spread out and paced in a way that when the fights do start, they usually feel spontaneous. I might even go as far as to say that the motivations for violent acts are completely warranted but it might sound like I have some issues myself.

If I do have one particularly large problem with this film it’s that Uchida has begun to oversimplify characterization. From the moment Otsuru appears on the screen, it’s made very clear that she is deceitful. When we see Sano, we are suppose to immediately sympathasize with him – he’s lonely, old, honest and giving. The film unintentionally implies that if you are a nice person, mean people will come and take advantage of you. Once one thinks about it more, Otsuru’s intentions seem quite rationale. A rich old guy comes along willing to give you everything, society has taught you that he is an awful person, and without his help, you’ll be stuck becoming a nobody. Uchida doesn’t give this point of view much thought.

Perhaps it’s good that this is considered to be one of his lesser, yet (ironically) more easily obtainable, films. Otherwise, his reputation as a liberal humanist might be thrown into question (at least by me) by such a lack of female characterization. Then again, Sano’s response to her at the end of the film doesn’t look particularly noble. I guess it’s a testament to Uchida’s skill as a filmmaker that his adaptation of an old kabuki play can make someone ponder so much.

It’s a bit ironic that Mizoguchi made a very Naruse like film in 1953 with Gion Bayahsi and in the same year, Naruse turned out this film. It might not completely resemble Mizoguchi’s usual style, but it still shows examples of similar dramatic and melodramatic touches. It’s also quite odd that this is one of the two films that Naruse made for Daiei in the 50s, the other being the funny and heartbreaking Lightning (Inazuma) which shows Naruse being as nuanced as ever. Perhaps a subdued, deadpan comedy and a slightly melodramatic family drama shows that Naruse’s range can be seen even in his short partnership with Daiei.

Mon, impregnated and abandoned by her lover, is forced to return home where she’s not received with enthusiasm. Her sister, San, has also returned home but with less emotional baggage. Eventually, the tension in the family becomes unbearable and it’s all pushed to the forefront by the violent older brother, Inokichi. When Mon’s lover comes to talk to the family, her father is outraged but Inokichi’s response is even worse. He beats him up and when Mon returns back home he does the same to her resulting in a very dramatic climax.

The aforementioned melodrama is most likely a result of two things: Masuyaki Mori’s uncharaceristaclly subpar performance and the sweeping, epic score that intrudes long stretches of the films. It also seems like the sets are more noticeable in their artificiality than in other Naruse pictures. He does occasionally strike visual (and audio) gold, the most obvious case being the scene where the father looks at the flowing river: a beautiful shot with the river creating an almost ambient drone. Of course, such scenes get muddled in-between ones with painted backgrounds. It’s a testament to Naruse’s usually great use of space that only in a open film like this do I notice how dated certain things look. Probably towards the bottom if I had to rank the twelve Naruse films  I’ve seen but it’s still very good.

I was trying to think up a shortlist of female directors from Japan not too long ago and outside of Kinuyo Tanaka, who of course is famous for other things, I could only think of Naomi Kawase. Unfortunately, she got little attention when she won the Grand Prix at Cannes for The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori) last year. She’s written two novels and directed ten films (her latest is in post-production) but only now, is she getting attention in the west. I’ve felt like I’ve written “only now getting attention in the west” about one hundred times in this blog already. America is just so far behind in Asian cinema. Enough whining, Shara (Sharasojyu) definitely represents the work of a promising talent.

The films opens with a prolonged and rather awkward sequence of Shun and his brother running through alleyways. For better or worse, Kawase’s shakycam tracks the traveling of characters in a way that is as immediately striking as the steadicam tracking shots in Alan Clarke’s films. Shun’s brother disappears and this setups the rest of the film, which takes place seven years after and reflects the family’s inability to move on from their trauma. Shun is now seventeen, exteremly alienated, and falling for Yu. Their respective families have much bottled in leading up to the “Shara festival.”

I always see it as being short-sighted when saying any films is like “so and so but with something else” but this just be an Ozu film with the unfortunately overused shakycam. The first is particularly Ozu-esque, as Kawase simply observes the everyday rituals of the film’s characters. The similarities in living conditions certainly doesn’t hurt this comparison, either. Seeing as how this is a delicate film, it takes place away from the bright lights and modernization of the big city. I’m also reminded of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s films from the 80s but placing Kawase on the same plateau as my two very favorite directors is a bit premature.

Even though this is a remarkably observant and neutral slice-of-life, the otherwise sparse narrative is plagued by a very silly exposition that ends up taking fifteen minutes of screen time. The film is about Shun, his family, Yu and her step-mom and that’s why the bit about the disappearing brother is unnecessary and frankly, a little silly. It’s bad enough that Shun never really “looks” for his brother but it’s even worse that Kawase felt such an explanation was needed to order to understand the tension of the family. It would be much more interesting, at least to me, had none of that information been given and the audience would be left to study the nuance of the present episodes.

Mrs. Kawase’s aesthetic deserves a word or two, as well. As I said, this is a very low-key drama, the type that I watch at an almost obsessive level. This is one of the first that seems to be keen on using the shakycam handheld look. Certainly the more kinetic approach can strike a chord with me (WKW, Fruit Chan, Cassavetes, and hundreds more) but it tends to be used for much more consequential films. The clash of somber pacing and anti-attention span camera work is very awkward at times, particularly the far too long opening sequence. This leads me to my final very small compliant and that’s that Kawase should have spent a little more time in the editing room. The opening sequence which is basically ten minutes of slow-motion footage of two kids running in a street feels sort of cool at first but goes on for an uncomfortable length of time. The opening festival sequence is a blast in face from the restrained mood the film had built itself upon and yet, the festival sequence ends up feeling even more mundane if only for the fact that it goes on way too long.

Even though I am vocal about my very small problems with the film, it is still pretty much a masterpiece. It’s refreshing to see that not everyone follows the long-held traditions/beliefs about minimalistic films in Asia. This is more akin to the social dramas coming out of South America, the “gluesniffing” genre as I like to call it, but with more focus on characters and their relationships. The people who would like Shara know who they are, and they shouldn’t waste anymore time not seeing it.