Nippon konchuki (1963)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.9/10   

Director:

Shohei Imamura

Escritores:

Keiji Hasebe (writer)
Shohei Imamura (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

30 junio 1964 (USA)

Género:

Drama

Plot:

Tome is born into poverty in rural Japan, in the late 1910s. Her father, Chuji, dotes on her; her mother is less faithful...

Plot Keywords:

Spanning Generations | Prostitution | Prostitution Ring | Prostitute | Post War Japan

Premios:

12 wins & 1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Japaneseness

Reparto

Emiko Aizawa	...	Rui
Masumi Harukawa	...	Midori
Sachiko Hidari	...	Tome Matsuki
Emiko Higashi	...	Kane
Daizaburo Hirata	...	Kamibayashi
Seizaburô Kawazu	...	Karasawa
Teruko Kishi	...	Rin
Tanie Kitabayashi	...	Madam
Kazuo Kitamura	...	Chuji
Asao Koike	...	Sawakichi
Masakazu Kuwayama	...	Owagawa En's Lover
Hiroyuki Nagato	...	Matsunami
Shoichi Ozawa	...	Ken
Sumie Sasaki	...	En
Taiji Tonoyama	...	Foreman
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi	...	Honda
Jitsuko Yoshimura	...	Nobuko

También conocida como:

The Insect
The Insect Woman

Duración:

123 min

País:

Japan

Idioma:

Japonés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Compañía:

Nikkatsu

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en "Cinéma, de notre temps: Shohei Imamura - Le libre penseur" (1995)

Japaneseness

I don't know if "Japaneseness" can qualify as a real English word, but this was a translation from the film's trailer. This strange word, however, can sum up the purpose of Shohei Imamura's film, Nippon Konchuki (The Insect Woman). Shohei Imamura uses a downtrodden, wartime Japanese woman, Tome, to attempt a cinematic answer to the question of what it means to be Japanese: what is the condition of the Japanese woman? The film is multilayered, working as a feminist statement and a metaphor for pre-and-postwar Japan simultaneously.

The heroine of the film is Tome, a woman born in the earlier half of the 20th century in a rural Japanese farming village. Incest is a strong theme in Imamura's work and he revives this theme through Tome's relationship with her mentally handicapped stepfather, Chuji. Tome and Chuji were involved in a taboo relationship since Tome was a very young child. Chuji is also quite childish during his short appearances in the film, always stating that he will raise 10 yen for Tome's troubles. The villagers have their cruel ways just as the villagers in The Ballad of Narayama.

Once Tome becomes of a mature age, she leaves home to work at a factory and has an affair with her boss. She later leaves the factory and works as a maid in a Japanese-American household (Japanese mother, American military father, and their multiracial daughter). A tragic event occurs and she leaves the domestic position to begin work in a house of prostitution under a Mama-san. Her time as a prostitute occurs over a long period of film's length during which she reunites with her daughter, who has come to Tokyo to visit her. The daughter slowly becomes absorber with some of the shadier people from Tome's life.

As stated previously, Tome's struggles are a metaphor for Japan's wartime struggle. Her rural upbringing represents pre-war Japan, mostly rural and agricultural. Her factory work parallels Japan's call to war and subsequent industrialization. Her work in the Japanese-American household could be related to Japan's service to America during the occupation. Finally, her prostitution is a rather harsh analogy to Japan's selling of service to American might. The term Insect Woman is a criticism of Tome's life. An insect doesn't learn and repeats mistakes, just as Tome does in the film. This is truly a dynamic film and a great way to introduce yourself to Shohei Imamura and the Japanese New Wave.