An Actor's Revenge

There are some truly beautiful scenes here, particularly the marvellous use of widescreen in the colourful kabuki sequences and Kazuoha Segawa is faultless in the duel central role. He plays dressed as a woman on the stage but seems also to live out his life this way and he also plays his thieving side-kick. Apparently played for laughs throughout it is difficult for a non Japanese to fully appreciate much of the subtlety and Shakespearean style play on words. Indeed, for me, the whole is rather too mannered and stagey. There is much blurring between stage and 'real life' which some find charming but I tend to find rather confusing and lifeless.

This movie is quite unlike any other I have ever seen. Oddly, one of the strangest things about it is the lighting. Much of the action occurs in the dark with just spotlights on the actors. This gives it a very stagy surreal feel. It takes place in historic Japan where people demonstrate their wealth not by cramming rooms with furniture, but by having gigantic carpeted empty rooms, with nothing in them but perhaps a stool. I found these starkly elegant and immensely pleasing. The exotic are things that come from Holland. It is fun looking through the Japanese side of the lens of history.

Characters often pose perfectly still for minutes an a time while some other character does something or narrates.

Yuki is a male who plays female roles in traditional Kabuki theatre. He always appears in elaborate female clothes. He is has a double chin. He is quite homely, both as male and female, but for reasons never satisfactorily explained seems irresistible to both males and females even though there are many other characters of either sex much better looking. He is also skilled at sword fighting. He is preposterously polite, effusive and self-effacing. The basic plot is seeking revenge for horrible things three men did to his parents. He subtly manipulates his enemies to do each other in.

A kabuki actor who wanders around is drag offstage does not seem to raise any eyebrows, except for people who don't realise he as an actor. Nobody seems to be the tiniest bit embarrassed by their attraction to him, perhaps annoyed or frustrated, but not ashamed.

The plot is operatic, very high emotions and drastic crazy behaviour. Kabuki theatre is definitely an acquired taste, but this movie is quite accessible and anything but boring.

There is one actor who plays two major roles. They give you a hint who it is near the end of the movie. See if you can pick it out earlier.

This movie is that rare species - a film that doesn't take itself seriously for a moment, and yet is stunningly well made and original.

According to Donald Richies '100 Years of Japanese Cinema' the director was forced to make this movie (the remake of a popular but very hammy 1930's original) as a punishment for his self indulgence in earlier movies. He responded by turning up the campiness to '11' in Spinal Tap terms.

Kon Ichikawa manages to take the story of a famous Kabuki female impersonator who wrecks revenge on three powerful men who killed his parents both beautiful (the scenery and photography is stunning) and queasy - everyone seems to fall in love with the rather ugly and very feminine leading 'man'. The story is irrelevant (presumably deliberately so), its all an exercise in style. You can see where Suzuki and many other later directors got a lot of their ideas. Kon is a very talented and skillful film maker so despite the fact that the cast are clearly playing it up for laughs, it is extremely well made, with wonderful sets and tight editing. Despite its origins, it is genuinely entertaining and required viewing for anyone with an interest in Kabuki or Japanese design.

As the curtains move aside, those wanting straight-up blood and carnage, will find that "AN ACTOR'S REVENGE" goes down a different path, in what is more a patient theatrical drama of cunning revenge. And a visually striking one too. I was impressed by the audacious wide scope photography and tonal lighting of its stylistic aesthetics, which helped set up the mood and story.

Kazuo Hasegawa superbly plays a kabuki lead actor Yukinojo Nakamura, specializing as an onnagata (otherwise a female impersonator). His travelling troupe happens to be performing in the village of the three men who drove his parents to suicide when he was a child. How he goes about his revenge is like an actor playing out a part, yet he obviously takes no pleasure out of it with conflicting thoughts and hesitations. Keeping to his strengths though, he manipulates everything to his advantage using his talents and sensuality to a spin a web, and in doing so, causing unwanted grief without physical harm. He doesn't want them to die a swift death, but he wants to ruin them in the attempt to drive them mad, like they did to his parents.

The material interestingly looks at how sometimes in this quest innocence can be a casualty, and even completing this vengeance, the emotions can't fulfill that loneliness that will always linger. Sometimes that emptiness is replaced by haunting thoughts of those you destroyed to see it through. As this revenge is set in motion, there are certain unplanned obstacles, leading him to show his skill with the blade. To be honest, the few moonlight standoff scenes are quick and nothing spectacular, but it's the imagery and framing of those moments that do stand out. Director Kon Ichikawa does so much with so little. Etched with dazzling details, compact sets, thick on slow exposition and meditative characters (even jarring comic relief) in what is a classy, if distant stage play brought to life.

This film begins with a Kabuki actor from Osaka by the name of "Yukinojo" (Kazuo Hasegawa) performing in the Japanese city of Edo to much applause. So much so that the Shogun's favorite concubine "Lady Namiji" (Ayako Wakao) has become quite smitten with him. Realizing this, Yukinojo decides to use this to his advantage in order to gain his revenge on three men living in Edo whose actions impoverished his family and cause both his father and mother to commit suicide. Things become more difficult, however, when a local thief named "Ohatsu" (Fujiko Yamamoto) discovers his plans and tries to use it to her advantage. Likewise, there are other characters with their own agendas who also interfere with Yukinojo's plans as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film was both poetic and bizarre at the same time with good performances by all three of the aforementioned actors. Admittedly, this film may not be to everyone's liking but, even so, I recommend it to those who might be curious and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.