Midnight Eye's contributors have come out with their annual lists of the best (and worst) Japanese films of 2007. For me, too, this was a year of many films (mostly on DVD) and being an inveterate list maker, I like to present my own "best 10". I will do it one film at a time, so that I have more space to talk about each film.
Today my Number One: Sakuran, a flamboyant fantasia about the lives of top courtesans in the brothels of Yoshiwara a few centuries ago - a film that surprisingly has critics sharply divided. It has been mowed down in Variety, for no obvious reason, but to my relief both Midnight Eye and Mark Schilling (Japan Times) are very positive.
What is it about?
The story is based on a popular manga by Anno Moyoco. A little girl is sold into the harsh world of the Yoshiwara pleasure district and grows up to be an oiran, a top prostitute. This is no geisha story - geisha were hostesses who danced, sang and did party games to enliven a dinner. The oiran were just as accomplished in the arts, but on top of that they sold their bodies. They wore the obi, the belt tied around the kimono to keep it closed, in front as a sort of challenge. Glamorous and sophisticated, they dictated the fashion of the day. They were a sort of super-models, who lived in a world of glitter and on whom men spent great sums of money. You will find these queens of beauty portrayed in countless ukiyo-e.
As a child brought to one of Yoshiwara's brothels, rebellious Kiyoha (Tsuchiya Anna) stands out for breaking all rules, brazenly talking back, challenging authority, and even running away. In short, she is very un-Japanese, and there Tsuchiya Anna fits admirably, who with a Japanese mother but Russian/American father also is no traditional Japanese type. This does not make her very popular among the other girls in the brothel ("The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" is an old Japanese saying), so she has no easy life, but fights her way to the top - even resorting to "kickboxing" when necessary!
She grows into a beautiful but straight-talking courtesan with a quick temper, who is extremely popular among the men who frequent the brothel. Finally she becomes a Yoshiwara star, the top-prostitute who can show off her beauty slowly parading in super-high geta through Yoshiwara with her retinue.
But Kiyoha is not happy with her life and dreams of true love. She also longs for freedom, but is like the colorful goldfish who sit in their glass bowls in the rooms of the brothel: also Kiyoha is famous and gorgeous only for as long as she stays in her fishbowl.
What do I like about it?
- The fantastic colors/photography of first-time director Ninagawa Mika
Sakuran is visually stunning. Have you ever seen so many colors clashing and still harmonizing in one shot? The costumes are gorgeous, the sets lavish. But in contrast to so many other historical dramas, it is no museum piece: the film is vibrant and sparkles with life. Of course, this a pop version of life in the Yoshiwara brothels that skips all the sordidness. But there are great ideas, such as making even the top part of the gate leading into Yoshiwara into a goldfish bowl, a most fitting symbol for the women inside..
- the indomitable energy of lead actress Tsuchiya Anna
Tsuchiya Anna brings the same rebelliousness to the screen as in her first flick Kamikaze Girls. She displays an indomitable energy and zest for life, coupled with a bold sex appeal. Tsuchiya Anna started her career as a model in 1998, made her acting debut in 2004 and came to the stage as a musician in 2005
- the sheer originality, the breaking of the old and musty mould
Nothing is really historical in this period piece, and that is what makes it so likable. Ninagawa Mika turns her back on convention by the utterly modern, over-the-top beauty of the flamboyant kimonos, the contemporary ikebana flower arrangements, and above all the rock soundtrack from musician Shiina Ringo. Not for nothing has Sakuran been compared to Marie Antoinette, another great film by a woman director.
Director Ninagawa Mika is in the first place famous as photographer. She has exhibited in major galleries and museums in Japan and elsewhere and her colorful work also appears in well-known magazines. She is no stranger to the stage either, as her father is a well-known Shakespeare director.
People who say that a photographer should not/cannot direct a movie, are small-mindedly putting their fellow-humans in fixed cubicles. Why can't we change, develop, do new things? The interest of the film is, exactly, that a photographer with a special eye for color and composition has directed it - that makes this film so unique!
Links:
The website of Ninagawa Mika has many examples of her photography.
The website of Tsuchiya Anna.
Review by Tom Mes on Midnight Eye
