Obscure Japanese Film #94
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| Masami Taura and Keiko Tsushima |
Sakie (Keiko Tsushima) is a young widow living with her father-in-law, Shinsaku Kijima (Tatsuo Saito), and his family. Kijima is a formerly successful playwright whose confidence has vanished in the post-war years; seen as a progressive in his heyday, his ideas are now regarded as hopelessly out-of-date. Unbeknownst to Kijima, Sakie pays a visit to Haiyuza (the real-life theatre company which trained Tatsuya Nakadai among many others) and asks director Mizuno (Seiji Miyaguchi) if he would help to get Kijima out of his funk by requesting a new play from him. Meanwhile, the rest of the family think it’s time that Sakie got married again and believe they’ve found the perfect candidate…
Tatsuo Saito
Although distributed by Shochiku, this is an independent production by Kindai Eiga Kyokai, the company formed by director Kozaburo Yoshimura, screenwriter Kaneto Shindo and actor Taiji Tonoyama in 1950, and which went on to produce films such as The Naked Island (1960) and Onibaba (1964).
Keiko Tsushima
The modest story of Wedding Day may seem inconsequential, but it’s well done in all departments and a pleasure to watch. Perhaps the best thing about it is that it provided roles with depth for two underrated actors: Tatsuo Saito, who had starred in many of Ozu’s earlier works, and Keiko Tsushima, best-known for playing the beautiful daughter of one of the farmers in Seven Samurai. She also played the ‘stripper’ who doesn’t actually strip in Tomu Uchida’s Twilight Saloon.
Sumiko Hidaka and Kurumi Yamabato
Setsuko Wakayama
Also notable among the cast are the actresses playing Kijima’s three daughters: Sumiko Hidaka (the hard-working one), Kurumi Yamabato (the lazy tomboyish one) and Setsuko Wakayama (the one who has a miscarriage but remains cheerful). Hayuza's Masami Taura is effective, too, as the son who has a crush on Sakie.
Director Kozaburo Yoshimura and his cast clearly went to great pains to make the characters convincing as fully-rounded human beings – note, for example, how the dialogue scenes usually involve someone carrying out a chore of some kind while speaking, or the troubled expression that sometimes passes across Sakie’s face – but only when she’s alone.
Kaneko Iwasaki, Eitaro Ozawa, Seiji Miyaguchi and others
Recommended viewing for fans of Ozu and Naruse, Wedding Day should also be of interest to Japanese theatre buffs as Haiyuza founders Chieko Higashiyama and Eitaro Ozawa both make appearances (although Ozawa has no lines and is only glimpsed briefly), while Haiyuza member Kaneko Iwasaki is seen rehearsing the part of Anya in The Cherry Orchard – a role she had actually performed for the company five years earlier.
Poster for Haiyuza's 1951 production of The Cherry Orchard
