by Allan Fish
The first in my series of generally unheralded masterworks begins with a small mini-series of works by Yoshishige Yoshida, which in turn begins a longer series on Japanese cinema.
(Japan 1962 113m) DVD2 (Japan only, no English subs)
Aka. Akitsu onsen
Like a flower in the tempest
p Masao Shirai d/w Yoshishige Yoshida novel Shinji Fujiwara ph Toichiro Narushima ed Yoshi Sugihara m Hikaru Hayashi art Tatsuo Hamada cos Mariko Okada
Mariko Okada (Shinko), Hiroyuki Nagato (Shusaku Kawamoto), Sumiko Hidaka (O-Tami), Asao Koike (Osaki), Akira Nagoya (Shimamura), Shigeru Koyama (Tsuda), Kojiro Kusanagi (Army), Masako Nakamura (Harue), Kukuko Sayo (Osumi), So Yamamura (Mikami), Eijiro Tono (priest), Teiji Tonoyama (Rokusuke),
More than perhaps any other national cinema that of the Japanese has been the most revelatory in my acquaintance. That which demands the closet look, the biggest rewriting of conventional history. Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, even Naruse, merely the tip of the iceberg. Kinoshita, Shimizu, Yamanaka, Gosho, Ichikawa, even Yoshimura; still deeper. Then the new wave brigade, led by Oshima, Suzuki and Teshigahara; still you’re not even close. Then Masumura gets thrown into the melting pot, the eclecticism of Jissoji may provoke the odd murmured “who?” until acquaintance makes one ashamed of the pronoun. Yet of all directors whose name belongs not only up there with the first four icons but perhaps even above one or two of them, it’s Yoshishige Yoshida.
Akitsu Springs is set in and around the Akitsu health spa and its tale begins in literally the last 24 hours of World War II. Shusaku, suffering from tuberculosis, has come to Akitsu to die. One young girl, Shinko, refuses to let him and invigorates him on the slow path to recovery. They fall in love, and in one of his darker moments, Shusaku asks Shinko to join him in double suicide. She accepts his love but isn’t ready to die. Neither, it transpires, is Shusaku, and slowly they part. Time passes, Shinko finds out that Shusaku is married with a child, and he seems to have no interest in her any more.
Essentially it’s melodramatic nonsense, one of the reasons why many Yoshida devotees have dismissed it in comparison to the more analytically cold later masterpieces. It’s the same Yoshida, but later he has the skilled hands of a surgeon looking for a lump, while in Akitsu he’s in the emotional maelstrom of kitchen table amputation to save a life. So what if it’s over the top and that the characters are little more than ciphers. Who cares about the plot at all, which is moribund enough to rival ‘Tosca’. Savour the detail of the seasons in the mise-en-scène, the gorgeously intricate costumes which Okada made for herself, the little throwaway shots, like that of the assumedly overhead Enola Gay flying over Akitsu on its fatal bomb run. For here is where it all began for Yoshida. Here he first worked with the legendary Mariko Okada, whose very career seems to cross the bridge from classical to modern, moving straight from two masterworks by Naruse and another two by Ozu, straight into a film worthy of the first of those masters. Close your eyes and, aside from the colour and the widescreen, it could easily be Naruse a few years earlier. There had been great director/actress partnerships in Japanese film –Mizoguchi/Yamada, Mizoguchi/Tanaka, Naruse/Takamine, Kinoshita/Takamine, Ozu/ Hara, not to mention the simultaneous match made in heaven Masumura and Wakao. To these eyes, however, Yoshida and Okada topped all, their career moved from one cinematic aeon to another and eventually drifted off camera, too. They married, they’re still alive and married as I write, and even here one can sense Yoshida’s love for her, even at the platonic stage. She’s lit as if made up with liquid cherry-blossom and dominates every scene she’s in, ageing literally before our very eyes, “a quiet heart, thinking of nothing”, blood drained from her long before she makes the fatal incision, going out like Ophelia, like Kyoko Kagawa’s Anju and like Mouchette. Accompanied by a remorseless score that uncannily echoes Thunder Rock, dizzyingly shot and superbly acted, it’s a film that predates the dirge romances of Wong Kar-Wai. If this was a piece of music it’d be Mahler’s 4th, a friend said. Come die with me! Let’s die, let’s die again.
Wow. I’ve never moved beyond the tip of the iceberg and haven’t even heard of some of the names below those four. In a single post, a single paragraph even, you have managed to open many avenues for seeking out new films, Allan. Thanks and all the best for this series. I think it’ll be eyeopening for all of us.
That’s the idea, JAFB. It’ll be all Japan until early December. I hope it will be eye-opening.
I’m glad to see that there will be more films from this part of the world reviewed.
Aye, Michael. This is a great series!
Well, JAFB and Coffee Messiah, let’s just say that I assure you will soon be seeing this rapturous masterpiece in all it’s English-subtitled, widescreen splendour. How do I know this? Let’s just say I have a bit of intuition on this matter! Ha!
I watched this nearly two-hour film yesterday afternoon on my basement plasma starting at about 3:30 P.M. It was one of those movie watching instances where you’d feel you just experienced a true artistic epiphany, and the unearthing by Allan of an-extremely-difficult-to-come-by Japanese print with burned on English subtitles represents one of his greatest finds in a glorious run where such revelations have become all too common.
After this ravishing Sirksian melodrama ended, I sat for ten minutes staring at the screen, and the repeating menu, hearing the strains of Hikaru Hayashi’s magnificent score, and marveling how Allan has done it yet again. I quickly ran to the PC and e mailed Allan asking him to call me immediately (he has a monthly phone rate which makes calls from the UK practically limitless) as I do when I have achieved cinema nirvana, to congratulate him on this spectacular find, which incredibly, has been kept from English-speaking audiences -like virtually all of Yoshida’s work- and keeping the repuation of this 79 year-old Japanese genius exclusive to his own countrymen.
This arresting, marvelously overblown melodrama, set at the end of World War II, is widescreen color cinematography par excellence, with glistening waterfalls, and creamy pink cherry blossoms permetaing the oasis backdrop of it’s titular landscape, showcases the detailed attention of a painter. The story, traditional for Yoshida, (to this point I’ve only seen EROS + MASSACRE, but am in possession of about six other subtitled DVDs that Allan sent on to me) make one wonder why he didn’t use color more often -nearly all of his 20 features are in b & w) but it was perfectly employed in this sweeping emotional melodrama, and ranks among the greatest of all Japanese films, and catapults this ‘closted’ director as one of his country’s cinematic giants.
Fascinating review. Looking forward to the Japanese season, only wish there was one British broadcaster that actually programmed seasons like this. Do you know what colour was used?
I really like this review, and the introductory paragraph about Japanese directors. The past few weeks I’ve become a rather large Oshima fan, thanks to the Eclipse box, and a few of his more obscure ones being sent to me/me finding torrents to download. And I’ve been a Suzuki and Teshigahara fan for a little while; in other words my tastes seem to really appreciate the New Wave that Japan experienced in the 60’s and beyond (I also like European New Wave, and US too). Sadly, I’ve only seen EROS + MASSACRE from Yoshida (thanks guys), but I do have a art house rental place here in Chicago and I searched him in their online database to see what they stock, and here are the results:
Akitsu Springs Yoshida, Yoshishige 1962 Japan
Coup D’Etat Yoshida, Yoshishige 1973 Japan
Eros Plus Massacre Yoshida, Yoshishige 1970 Japan
Escape From Japan Yoshida, Yoshishige 1964 Japan
Good for Nothing Yoshida, Yoshishige 1960 Japan
Heroic Purgatory Yoshida, Yoshishige 1970 Japan
Women in the Mirror Yoshida, Yoshishige 2002 Japan/France
So it looks like I can jump right in, or at least when I have the available funds. Unfortunately my computer has a region code so I can watch these on my TV but I will be unable to burn copies for reviewing at my leisure/personal collection. (I may ask nicely for copies in the future for anyone that has them)
Obviously this is a great essay, and overall recommendation. Japan really does have a rich tradition, and if you want to go just as far in a more extreme vein Japan has much to offer here to (and I imagine when I start the extreme series I’ll spend much time there), Miike is for the mainstream, but the cyber punks, pinkies, and horror have produced much great quality. (As I’ve said recently I love RUBBER’S LOVER, etc.)
Jamie, I will be putting something together for you.
fantastic, thank you very much Sam.
Oh I also wanted to mention that after a quick email exchange with Allan I came across an online interview with Yoshida, and as part of it they discussed that he wrote a book about Ozu, that appears to inadvertently (and probably on purpose too) reveal much about how he also sees, and views film.
it’s called ‘Ozu’s Anti-Cinema’, and it available now in an english translation from a wonderful University press.
Eventually I will be buying this, it sounds tremendous.
Jamie, this is fantastic! I will be looking into this myself!
While it remembered me of one of the best novels ever written, ‘Snow Country’ by Yasunari Kawabata, I found it lacking and disjointed. I find much more love in “Affair in the Snow”, a truly great movie by Yoshishige Yoshida.
Jaime: While I obviously don’t at agree with that summary judgement of AKITSU SPRINGS, which ravished and moved me more than any film in quite some time, I am far more thrilled that you have seen the film, seem to know quite a bit about Yoshida’s cinema, and have graced us with yet another excellent comment.
Allan sent me THE AFFAIR, so I am planning to watch that before the weekend is out. Your high estimation has me even more excited.
And Jaimie, I’ll do some research now on that Kawabata novel, one I’m unfamiliar with! Sounds great!
Haha, well I had little time to do a large comment on the movie, which I nevertheless considered a must-see, but not a masterpiece.
But I have seen three movies of these amazing and undiscovered director, and “Affair in the Snow” is by far the best of the bunch. I do need to see more, but let time talk to me.
About the novel, is an essencial Kawabata, I’d be surprised if anyone here hasn’t read it, it’s a true classic.
Even if I prefer ‘Beauty and Sadness’ by Kawabata, this is still essential stuff.
The Affair and Affair in the Snow are two different films, Sam, but you have both, they’re both exceptional.
I have BOTH here? OK, which of the two do you recommend I watch first? Has Jaime made a good call?
Oh, and here is the interview link I found that book information from. It’s a good read, and Yoshida gets to speak for himself:
http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/no-wasted-moments-20090402
I’m just curious Allan, as the way Yoshida describes his latest film, 2002’s WOMAN IN THE MIRROR he says “it has no wasted moments, and it’s as close as possible to what I consider the ideal form of cinema.” Have you seen it? And if yes, why didn’t it place in the 2000’s countdown?
I haven’t seen it yet, Jamie, simply because I haven’t the money to pay for as many of these films as I would like. These subbed prints cost me $20 a whack and I’m on pauper’s wages.
Eventually I will get it.
Tremendous review, the first in what i’m anticipating will be a great series.
Why, though, did I have the funny feeling that, when Allan said he’s continue to contribute reviews to WONDERS, it would be on Japanese cinema…..
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH???????
Because he’s the master in this field….
Very interesting, Allan. Could you recommend a Yoshida I should start exploring his work with?
To be honest, you could do a lot worse than this one. There were earlier films, and you may wish to seek them out, but I might suggest Akitsu because it ties back to his influences, before moving onto his analytical masterpieces of the mid to late 60s and early 70s.
Sounds great, I’ll report back before you’re through with the Yoshida series. Thanks!
So it’s melodramatic nonsesne, yet the style makes it a classic? Perhaps a Japanese Sirk. I am hankering for a copy. Is anyone listening.
This is an exceptional review, though it’s no revelation to say as much.