Killing In Yoshiwara
Directed by: UCHIDA Tomu
Cast: KATAOKA Chiezo, CHIAKI Minoru, KIMURA Isao, SANTO Akiko, CHIHARA Shinobu
The film that led David Shipman to declare Uchida Tomu "the equal of Mizoguchi and Kinugasa," Killing in Yoshiwara ranks with Uchida's finest postwar work.
A glorious melodrama shot in vivid color and Widescreen and written by Mizoguchi collaborator Yoda Yoshikata, it is a feast.
A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, who is beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring birthmark on his face. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him, until an indentured peasant prostitute, Tamarazu, takes the unsavory assignment and treats him with brash tenderness.
The grateful businessman falls madly in love with her, ultimately losing his fortune in the expensive quest to purchase her freedom.
This is a great story, with superb acting by screen-legend Kataoka Chiezo in the lead role. And the violent climax is directed with breathtaking assurance, a must see! It's perhaps the single most brilliant scene in Uchida's oeuvre!
1960 - Color -16:9 Widescreen Japanese with English subtitles.
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