"Zigeunerweisen" A strange and colorful daydream movie

Synopsis of "Zigeunerweisen"

Early Showa era. Aoji Toyojiro and his ruffian friend Nakasuna Tadasu were fellow instructors at the military academy. Aoji is surprised to see Sono, Nakasuna's bride. She is the exact replica of Koina, a geisha whom Aoji had met several years ago. Before he knows it, Aoji is lost in reality and fantasy. He is haunted by the suspicion that his wife is being seduced and attracted to Nakasuna.

Index

• Pure avant-garde, The Natural born punks
• “Events” in Japanese film history
• The image of "dissipation"

Pure avant-garde, The Natural born punks

From the moment he made his directorial debut with "Harbor Toast: Victory in My Hands" (1956), Suzuki Seijun was scolded by his company for "not really understanding what he was doing." This was because he would casually ignore imaginary lines, make no explanatory cuts, and only make films that confused the audience. However, this is not to say that he was rich in experimental spirit, such as "deconstructing by ignoring film grammar." Although he himself intended to make entertainment films in the utmost seriousness, they ended up being avant-garde. A born avant-garde. The Natural born punk. Suzuki Seijun was Suzuki Seijun from the beginning.

He continued to release program pictures such as " Kanto Mujyuku " (1963), " Shisei Ichidai " (1965), " Tokyo Drifter " (1966), and " Kenka Eregei " (1966). His genres were extremely diverse, including coming-of-age films, literary films, action films, suspense films, and chivalry films. His 40th film, " Branded to Kill " (1967), was a stateless action film by Nikkatsu, which was in its heyday at the time. Starring "Ace Joe" Shishido Joe, this film also has an incomprehensible story of "professional killers competing to make money in a world where a ranking of assassins is announced."

Nowadays, it is known as a cult film that influenced filmmakers around the world, with Jim Jarmusch releasing Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) in homage to the film, but Nikkatsu president Kyusaku Hori was furious at the parade of mysterious scenes, such as the protagonist played by Shishido Jo becoming ecstatic at the smell of rice cooking in a rice cooker. Suzuki was fired from Nikkatsu for the shocking reason of "making an incomprehensible film."

"Zigeunerweisen" 4K digital complete restoration

After that, he made ends meet working in commercials and television, and made his comeback to the feature film " Hishuu Monogatari " (1977) for the first time in about 10 years. It was at this time that Seijun Suzuki had a fateful encounter with producer Genjiro Arato. Here is an excerpt from Suzuki's own comment:

"How did the project for this movie come about?"

"It all started when I was walking to my friend's house in Daitabashi when a car came towards me. A producer I knew, Arato (Genjiro), was in the car. We started talking about how Suzuki-san wanted to make a film together."

"Suddenly?"

"He suddenly said to me, "I've got 50 million yen, so I'll leave it up to you to come up with any subject matter that can be done within that budget." That's how it all began." (*1)

It seems like a crazy story to be suddenly approached by a man in a car who said he had some money and invited him to make a film. But this mysterious meeting led to the start of the planning for "Zigeunerweisen" (1980), which he had been working on. It became the beginning of his romantic trilogy, which continued with " Kagerouza " (1981) and " Yumeji " (1991).

“Events” in Japanese film history