Jigokumon
by
Teinosuke Kinusaga
review by Shawn Barron
In
1951 Japanese film made a big impression with western audiences when Akira
Kurosawa’s Rashomon won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. Three
years later the film’s producers Daei studios made their next big splash
internationally when Teinosuke Kinugasa’s Jigokumon(Gate of Hell) won the Palme
d’Or. For most of the sixties and seventies Rashomon and Gate of Hell were
discussed together when film historians discussed Japanese film. While Kurosawa
was able to follow up Rashomon with the international hits of Seven Samurai,
Kagemusha, and Ran, Kinugasa however was never able to have another big
international hit. With a current DVD/Blu-Ray release in the U.K. this seems
like a good time to reevaluate the film.
Jigokumon is an example of the Japanese genre
know as Jidaigeki, roughly meaning period film, the films take place in the
centuries preceding the opening of Japan in the late 19th century. A
few titles popular in the west are Kill! By Kihachi Okamoto, Harakiri by Masaki
Kobayashi, Ugetsu by Kenji Mizoguichi and Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, and Ran by
Akira Kurosawa. Most of the films feature swordplay, political intrigue, and a
romance. The genre is still very popular and the current king of cult movies in
Japan Takahsii Mike has made a few.
The film tells the story of Moritoh, a Samurai
who refuses to join his comrades in a coup. Moritoh is given the task of
escorting a woman, whom he thinks is the princess, out of the city. The woman
is in fact a handmaiden of the princess named lady Kesa. When Moritoh learns of her
real identity he becomes determined to marry her. She refuses as she is already
married, but Moritoh becomes more obsessed. Moritoh’s master attempts to force
them together with tragic results.
One of Jigokumon’s most interesting qualities
is the way it seamlessly switches between genres. The film begins with a
violent siege of a castle in progress. People are being shot with arrows,
burned in fires, and slashed by swords. From the first scene the film is
explicit with its violence but never excessive. There is no time when the film
glorifies violence; instead it shows the physical as well as emotional impact
violence. After the first third the film changes tones and becomes more of a
Shakespearean drama like Othello or Hamlet. The interiors and theatrical use of tight
space are truly wonderful in the second part of the film.
One of the film’s most striking qualities is
its use of color. Jigokumon was the first color film released by Daei studios,
and the first Japanese color film to gain distribution outside of Japan. While
there are some scenes in the film featuring the gaudy Technicolor commonly
associated with this era, there are also many scenes with striking innovation.
Many interior scenes feature a far more subdued use of color than is typical of
films of the 1950s. In the exterior scenes the green of the trees and the blue
of the water still pop out 60 years later.
If there is any message to this film it seems
to be a criticism of Samurai culture. Like the more famous Harakiri released a
decade later, Jigokumon portrays Samurais as vain, ignorant, opportunistic,
mercenaries. Several of the clichés of Jidaigeki, are mocked throughout the
film, at one point a character attempts to commit suicide to redeem himself and
is told that killing himself is pointless since it won’t actually fix the
problems he caused. The film does a great job of at first showing scenes of
very exciting violence, but then taking time to show the audience the impact of
that violence.
The cast and crew of Jigokumon help truly bring
this film to life. Moritoh is played by Kazuo Hasegawa; a prolific actor in
Japan who appeared in over 300 films, he is most famous to western audiences
for his lead role in Kon Ichikawa’s cult film An Actor’s Revenge. Hasegawa
performance dominates many of the scenes he is in, he truly embodies the roll
of a man possessed by an impossible desire. Moritoh’s object of desire, Lady
Kesa, is played by Machiko Kyo. She is an icon of Japanese film of the 1950s.
She appeared in several legendary films of the era such as Rashomon, Ugetsu,
Street of Shame, as well as the American film The Teahouse of the August Moon;
later in life she would win a lifetime achievement award from the Japanese
academy. Her performance in Jigokumon provides an interesting combination of
feminine gentleness with a bold strength of will.
The
film’s director Teinosuke Kinusaga had a rather interesting career, he began as
an Onnagata in silent film in Japan, which is an actor who plays the part of
the female, a style which originated in Kabuki. When studios started using
female actors for female parts he switched to directing. In 1926 Kinusaga quit
his job as a studio director to launch his own independent company. He directed
Page of Madness, a film about a janitor in an insane asylum, using an
avant-guard theatre troupe as the cast. After completing the film Kinusaga lost
the only print for over four decades before finding it while cleaning out a
shed.
Fun stuff huh?
After WWII he returned to filmmaking, directing several costume dramas
for Daei. Kinusaga’s avant-garde experience really shines through with the
films use of sound, in moments of tension during the film a slowly rising
background noise, somewhat like a polic siren, slowly emerges only to disappear
when the tension ends.
Jigokumon
is a film about the pointlessness of violence and the cruelty by which those in
positions of power can manipulate those weaker than themselves. It is to the
credit of Kinusaga that this film never becomes preachy and instead keeps its
messages very subtle. This is a truly great film that has been unduly
overlooked, hopefully now it will finally get the love of cine-piles around the
world that it deserves.
10/ 24/2012
10/ 24/2012
