#299: SUZUKI, Seijun: Story Of A Prostitute (1965)
SUZUKI, Seijun (Japan)
Commentary
None.
Story Of A Prostitute [1965]
Spine #299
DVD
DVD
Volunteering as a "comfort woman" on the Manchurian front, where she is expected to service hundreds of soldiers, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikami, Narita's direct subordinate. Seijun Suzuki's Story of a Prostitute (Shunpuden) is a tragic love story as well as a rule-bending take on a popular Taijiro Tamura novel, challenging military and fraternal codes of honor, as seen through Harumi's eyes.
96 minutes
Black & White
Black & White
Monaural
in Japanese
2:40:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2005
Director/Writers
Based on a story by Taijiro Tamura.
Screenplay by Hajime Takaiwa.
Seijun Suzuki was 42 when he directed Story of a Prostitute.
The Film
Other Suzuki films in the Collection:
Eclipse Series 17: Take Aim At The Police Van (1960)
#268: Youth Of The Beast (1963)
#298: Gate Of Flesh (1964)
Eclipse Series 17: Take Aim At The Police Van (1960)
#268: Youth Of The Beast (1963)
#298: Gate Of Flesh (1964)
The Film
Seijun Suzuki was a contract director for Nikkatsu in the mid-60s, but he always seemed to turn the scripts he was assigned to direct into something more than the ordinary B-movie which the studio regularly cranked out.
A few years after this film was made, the studio finally realized he was tweaking their corporate noses, and he was fired.
Meanwhile, the existing pictures from that period are certainly many levels above the “B”-film label that was automatically attached to them.
They are certainly not on the “A” level of Kurosawa and Ozu films from that time, but they are nevertheless highly esteemed in both Japan and the West these days …
**
Yumiko Nogawa (Harumi) appears in just her third film, age 21. If she seems to be overacting, keep in mind that Suzuki is making a dark satire, and her character demands it …
Mikami (Tamio Kawachi) is a blank slate, for the most part. Suzuki means to use the character to amplify the antiwar message, but of course, ultimately he conforms; therein lies the parody.
Isao Tamagawa (Lt. Narita) is a bit of a cardboard villain, but he is good in the role.
Shinjū means “double suicide.” It is a uniquely Japanese concept, which is poorly understood by the West. One of the first works of art concerning shinjū was the 17th-century puppet theatre (bunraku) play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon.
Criterion viewers interested in this subject should watch Masahiro Shinoda’s 1969 classic, “Double Suicide” (Spine #104) …
**
Suzuki incorporates some really unique effects — Harumi fantasizes killing Narita, whose image is broken up and shredded like a newspaper.
The use of slow-motion is infrequent and effective; even more amazing are the freeze-frames in the final scenes.
This is a really important film, whose resonance is felt more than half-a-century later with the “comfort women” issue still bleeding into the front pages of our newspapers. Or your digital screen …
Film Rating (0-60):
The Booklet
Eight-page wraparound with an essay by film critic David Chute.
55
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Eight-page wraparound with an essay by film critic David Chute.
“Harumi is an extraordinary creation: ferocious, willful, fearless. Even without ever wielding a sword or striking an imitative pose, she qualifies as a genuine warrior. At times almost terrifying in her vehemence, she is explicitly associated with the mythical masked demons of the stylized Kabuki theater productions Suzuki loved. Indeed, there is an operatic grandeur to her intensity. In a startling early shot, the director uses extreme slow motion to extend one of her cries of anguish into something primal, tendrils of hair eddying around her face like the serpent locks of Medusa. And at every phase of the story, it is Harumi who supplies the narrative’s driving energy. There is no denying that her trajectory is self-destructive, but this is a story with a military backdrop, a context in which we take for granted that men who make the supreme sacrifice are doing something glorious. Suzuki’s view of that sort of glory is sarcastic in the extreme, and Harumi’s story is a perfect subversive vehicle for his pitch-black irony.”
Commentary
None.
Interviews
With Suzuki, Production Designer Takeo Kimura and film critic Tadao Sato.
A nicely balanced piece with the three viewpoints.
Original theatrical trailer
As if often the case with Japanese trailers from this time period, there are a lot of shots that aren’t in the film — here, there are some lovely double-exposures, a negative exposure, and some close pan shots — all missing from the finished film.
Original theatrical trailer
As if often the case with Japanese trailers from this time period, there are a lot of shots that aren’t in the film — here, there are some lovely double-exposures, a negative exposure, and some close pan shots — all missing from the finished film.
Nikkatsu doesn’t skimp on selling the eroticism of the film, which was controversial at the time.
Comments
Post a Comment