CONFLAGRATION reviewed; screening at Japan Society tomorrow

Japan Society NY
and
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan

present

Conflagration © Kadokawa Corporation.

Conflagration / Enjô

Directed by Kon Ichikawa

Starring Raizo Ichikawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Ganjiro Nakamura

Japan, 1958, 99 minutes, 35mm, b/w

When: Monday, November 14, 2015 at 7:00 om

Where: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street, NYC

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Synopsis (courtesy Japan Society):

Known as Ichikawa's favorite of his own films, Conflagration is the pinnacle of the many acclaimed literary adaptations he and his wife Natto Wada worked on together. Loosely based on true events that also inspired Yukio Mishima's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the story involves the spiritual and psychological breakdown of an introverted, troubled youth named Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), whose desire for pure beauty leads him to Kyoto's Shukaku temple, where he becomes an apprentice to the priest. 

Haunted by the trauma of his father's death, Goichi is unable to reconcile the sacred beauty of the temple with postwar reality, and his absolutist ideals become increasingly distorted until they lead to destruction. Ichikawa's stark, poignant film is unforgettably rendered in stunning black and white by cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and numerous other highly regarded films).

Review:

It's not difficult to understand why Ichikawa was so pleased with this film, as it's a superb piece of story-telling. And, as previously mentioned, Miyagawa's cinematography is outstanding.

Raizo Ichikawa, perhaps best known to Westerners for his portrayal of Nemuri Kyoshiro in the Sleepy Eyes of Death swordplay series, gives a superb performance as Goichi. So too does Tatsuya Nakadai as Togari, Goichi's lame and dissolute fellow student. It's a revelation seeing the two of them so early in their careers.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars, most highly recommended. In other words, it's a "must-see" if at all possible.

This screening of Conflagration is presented as part of the film series The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from JAPAN CUTS and Beyond. The films in the series were selected and are co-presented by the Japan Society and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. Conflagration is In collaboration with the National Film Archive of Japan