Furin / 不倫 (1965)

Obscure Japanese Film #126

Ayako Wakao

 

Saburi (Keizo Kawasaki) is a writer who has just won the Newcomer of the Year Award for his book ‘Sexual Aesthetics’. Despising marriage and thinking monogamy unnatural, he has ongoing sexual relationships with two women and has arranged it so that they visit his apartment on different days. The two women are the traditionally-minded Seiko (Ayako Wakao), who would like to get married but is too deferential to insist on it, and Maki (Kyoko Enami), a more modern type who usually wears Western clothes and is considering getting married to an American. The two women soon become aware of each other’s existence; when they finally meet, Saburi is disconcerted to see them getting on like a house on fire instead of fighting over him as his ego would prefer… 

Kyoko Enami

This sex comedy eschews obvious gags and opts instead for irony – the more Saburo gets embroiled in this ménage à trois, the more of a conservative hypocrite he’s revealed to be. For all his preaching of emancipation, he still feels the need to lie and is no more immune to feelings of guilt and jealousy than anyone else. At one point, he begins to suspect that Seiko and Maki are having a lesbian affair – an idea he finds quite shocking.

 

 

Furin was based on a just-published novel of the same name by the prolific Koichiro Uno (just turned 90 at the time of writing). It’s a well-made and well-acted movie, especially by the two women, with Kyoko ‘Woman Gambler’ Enami making a strong contrast to Wakao’s more demure, but also more manipulative, character. The classical-style soundtrack and crisp black and white photography also lend considerable class, while the direction by forgotten veteran Shigeo Tanaka (see also Mikkokusha) is hard to find fault with. 

 

The one slight bone of contention I have with this film is that Saburi’s life bears no resemblance to that of anyone I’ve ever known (though perhaps I don’t move in the right circles). He seems to do very little work, yet has no money worries whatever. It’s hard to understand why Seiko and Maki are interested in him as, not only is he rather nerdy and plain-looking, he has no particularly positive personality traits to make up for it. And Seiko does all his cooking for him, too – this is one dweeb who’s really got it made!

Keizo Kawasaki

 

The title is sometimes translated as ‘Adultery’ in English, although it’s a poor fit as the protagonists are unmarried. Furin can also mean ‘impropriety’ or ‘immorality’, but these sound too judgemental given the context. For these reasons, it’s understandable that, when Daiei screened it in English at their then recently-opened New Kokusai Theatre in Honolulu, it was retitled ‘Strange Triangle’. 

 

 Thanks to AK.

Bonds of Love / 愛のきずな / Ai no kizuna (1969)

Obscure Japanese Film #125

 

Mari Sono and Makoto Fujita

Suzuki (Makoto Fujita) is a low-level manager at a travel agency who drives a modest car and is dissatisfied with his life. One night, driving home in heavy rain, he notices Yukiko (Mari Sono), an attractive young woman taking shelter by the side of the road, and manages to persuade her to accept a lift. He takes her home and she gives him her card with the name of the restaurant where she works. The two begin seeing each other, but things become complicated when it emerges that they each have a secret…

 

To reveal any more of the plot would spoil this movie – it’s based on a Seicho Matsumoto story, so the twists are kind of the point. However, I feel I should comment on one dramatic event so far as to say that a crime committed by one of the protagonists may seem random and unmotivated to non-Japanese viewers, but I believe that the motivation is the character’s desire to silence the victim by any means necessary in order not to lose face (which would also result in a loss of status and position). Incidentally, the original story was entitled ‘Tazutazushi’ and published in 1963; this remains the sole film version, although it has been remade for TV three times since. 

 

Director Takashi Tsuboshima seems to have recognised the absurd aspects of the story and approached it as a black comedy, albeit one that’s played fairly straight for the most part. One notable exception is a slapstick sequence when a distracted Suzuki pours milk and sugar into an ashtray instead of his coffee cup. The choice of Makoto Fujita for the leading role works in the film’s favour – he doesn’t look in the least like a film star, and wasn’t one, though he was a popular TV star (often in comic parts) and also gave a notable performance in a leading role in Masaki Kobayashi’s Hymn to a Tired Man. 

 

Fujita’s co-star here, Mari Sono, was a famous pop singer who passed away very recently at the age of 80. Considering she was not a trained actress, she does pretty well here. There are also strong supporting performances by Makoto Sato and Chisako Hara as well as a cameo by Noriko Sengoku.

Makoto Sato

 

Chisako Hara

 

Noriko Sengoku

Bonds of Love is a very engaging and well-made variation on the Matsumoto crime formula; Tsuboshima’s slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the material may be unexpected, but feels exactly right given the implausibility of the plot. Tsuboshima (1928-2007) was a minor director, many of whose films were vehicles for a popular group of comedians/musicians known as the Crazy Cats; Bonds of Love seems to have been an anomaly in his filmography. It was a co-production between Toho and Watanabe Productions, a company belonging to Shin Watanabe (1927-87), a former jazz bassist who started the company as a talent agency in the 1950s before expanding into film production in 1962, subsequently producing at least 48 films, virtually all of which have fallen into obscurity.

English subtitles courtesy of Ohako Subs can be found here. 

Konki / 婚期 / 'Marriageable Age' (1961)

Obscure Japanese Film #124

Ayako Wakao

 

Takuo (Eiji Funakoshi) runs an inn (a family business he has inherited), and lives not just with his wife, Shizuka (Machiko Kyo), but with his two sisters – Namiko (Ayako Wakao) and Hatoko (Hitomi Nozoe), who are financially dependent on him and on the lookout for husbands. Namiko, 29, teaches calligraphy to children and is in danger of becoming an old maid (although it was unclear to me why). Hatoko, 24, is trying to become an actress but only getting tiny parts. The two sisters get on well, spending much of their time together, and are united in their dissatisfaction with Shizuka, perhaps because she does not run a perfect house and relies too heavily on the elderly maid (Tanie Kitabayashi). 

Eiji Funakoshi

 

Machiko Kyo

One day, Shizuka receives an anonymous letter telling her that her husband has a mistress with whom he has had a child, but she seems only a little perturbed by this. In this dysfunctional family, the only person who seems to have their shit together is Takuo’s sister, Saeko (Mieko Takamine), an emancipated divorcee who lives apart from the rest, works in the fashion industry and sees through her womanising brother…

Mieko Takamine

 

Director Kozaburo Yoshimura was better-known for his more serious literary adaptations, but on this occasion he successfully turned his hand to a domestic comedy from an original screenplay by frequent Tadashi Imai / Mikio Naruse collaborator Yoko Mizuki (1910-2003). Mizuki actually won the 1962 Best Screenplay Award for this and Tadashi Imai’s The Harbour Lights (1961). In the case of Konki, the screenplay is a dialogue-heavy one which allows the mostly female ensemble star cast to have a field day. 

Ayako Wakao and Hitomi Nozoe

 

Despite watching twice with decent if imperfect subtitles, I still felt that there was a great deal I didn’t understand, and I suspect that you have to be Japanese to really get this one. The subtitles sometimes struggled to keep up with the often rapid-fire dialogue, with the result that it was not always clear who was saying what to whom. I also suspect that the ending had a point to it which sailed right over my head. Nevertheless, there’s a lot to enjoy here, with Ayako Wakao and Hitomi Nozoe making a great comic double act. The real star of this movie, though, is Tanie Kitabayashi, an actress who specialised in granny roles. She was around 50 when she made this, but was playing at least 20 years older. She’s hilarious here as the put-upon help, and the splendidly reluctant intonation she puts into a simple ‘hai’ (‘yes’) when instructed to do something is priceless. 

Tanie Kitabayashi

 

One notable aspect of the film is the sheer amount of business the actors find to do while delivering their dialogue. Whether it’s Wakao marking her pupils’ calligraphy homework, Nozoe cutting her toenails, Takamine removing a face pack or Kitabayashi grating dried bonito, Konki is a masterclass in the use of props, and the skilfully co-ordinated interaction of the various cast members shows their considerable acting chops. While the film may be baffling at times for non-Japanese viewers, anyone who loves these actors and Daiei films of this era (as I do) should certainly seek it out.


Thanks to Anonymous.