The Graceful Brute

When watching Japanese films of the thirties, fifties and early sixties (a bit of a hiatus for the war), I find myself constantly asking myself two questions. Why are Japanese films still for the most part so little known and how was it that the Japanese were able to produce fine films with such consistency over such a long period when one compares them particularly with the huge volume of junk churned out by the US film industry in order to produce a small corpus of good films?

Japan was by this time was the largest single country producing film in the world,, in itself a remarkable fact for a monolingual film industry relatively unreliant on exports. The Japanese were overtaken by India sometime in the seventies but that the Indian and European film industries should be, as they currently remain, the largest is completely unsurprising (they each produce something like 1000 films a year). Both are huge continents with cinema traditions that are multilingual with several different centres of production (the majority of Indian films are made in the various centers in South India not in Bombay) but of the monolingual traditions ((with films being made largely in one centre - Hollywood or Tokyo) ,only the US was really comparable but produced many fewer films in total as well as and many fewer of high quality.

This Kawashima film is a beautifully observed and at times very funny satire on the moral postwar Japan, an area in which Kawashima was something of a specialist. Certain key scenes - the moment when the family remember their time of poverty or the brother and sister's wild dance in the sunset, Wakao's surreal imagined "stair-walk" as she recounts her plans for the future - are unforgettable. Wakao' performance is often rightly praised but it is actually the eerily 'ordinary" performances of Yûnosuke Itô and Hisano Yamaoka as the parents that make this film so remarkable.

I have only seen two other films by him but both are excellent in very different ways. Suzaki Paradaisu: Akashingô (1956) is a more melancholy postwar study of a drifting couple while Bakumatsu taiyôden (1957) is a very funny period drama with comedian Frankie Sakkai which also has a sly contemporary relevance. Both are strongly recommended..Kawashima was a major influence on Shohei Imamura (who co-wrote Bakumatsu taiyôden) whose early comedies like Hateshinaki yokubô (1958) and Buta to gunkan (1961) cover rather similar territory. Also to be discoveerd for those who do not already know them.

Our opening introduction to Mr & Mrs Maeda follows the pair as they hurriedly stash out of sight all their valued possessions, for on the way up the apartment stairs is their son's boss, with an accountant, to present accusations of large-scale embezzlement... So begins this brilliant cynical social satire, you could almost say chamber drama, stay tuned, unravelling in a volatile atmosphere the offbeat story has some extraordinary surprises ahead... The outstanding film is deliriously black humoured, a distinctive collaboration between two masters of their art, director Yûzô Kawashima and writer Kaneto Shindô. Complimenting the tale is vibrant expressive colour cinematography, brilliantly composed within the tight settings by Nobuo Munekawa.

Coming back to the film after some years, spellbound throughout, compels me to give an extra shout-out for this classic film, one that still mysteriously lingers somewhat in obscurity.

A knockout cast of flawed characters excel in the confined apartment setting, but one role in particular I will single out. Every captivating performance from Ayako Wakao always seems to be her best. Here she is exceptional as the titular character. . Yasuzo Masumura reflected in a 1970 interview that Wakao was, "selfish and calculating ... she's hardly a pure-hearted woman and she knows it."... A formidable natural, this is the very essence of her chic, scintillating role as the firm's manipulative accountant Yukie, 'The Graceful Brute'!

Say no more, Shitoyakana kedamono for me is a treasured essential of Classic Japanese Cinema. Highly Entertaining. Highly Recommended!!

I have nothing to say about this well done dark comedy other than the goddess rocks harder than ever, while looking at her best. The only real downside of this movie is that the plot gets a bit jumbled and difficult to follow towards the finale, hence I give it an 8,5 instead of a 9. Other than that, it's highly recommended, especially to fans of Ayako Wakao such as myself.

The original story of amazingly greedy people with cheat, embezzle and corruption, is an original, written by Kaneto Shindo. It's all set in this little apartment of the Maeda family. The son's taking money from the talent agency that he's working for. But the money's somehow missing. Who's taking it? Parents, who act like they're poor, seem to be hiding something. Or is that the daughter, the writer's mistress? Maybe the tax man, who was helping the agency to evade a tax? The singer looks like he lost so much money, too. Who's the most greedy, clever, smart, sexy and strongest but never seems to show that and always behave gracefully?? This absolute classic (directed by a legend Yuzo Kawashima),beautifully shot and acted should be seen more...and watch out the title role, played by the greatest Ayako Wakao!

My latest Radiance Films pickup, Elegant Beast is an intriguing but unfortunately bland family of grifters film. While it has some fun elements and some stylish moments, it's a far too dry embezzlement and blackmail story, lacking in humor and personality, having only a few touches of music and flair, with performances and direction that are amateurish and forgettable. There is too much talking in one place about so many different angles and sums of money that it was impossible to focus or keep track, and I didn't really care. It's overwritten and rarely has time to breathe or find a real spark of energy. It's an interesting oddity but not much more.