"Conversely, the petticoat presentation goes to the mystical, women are insubordinate despite of ostensible submission. in KAGERO-ZA, Shinako (Yasuda again, peculiarly prim-looking),the phantom-like entity seduces and mesmerizes Shunko, can not be pinned down with any concrete conclusion, like a banshee, she wails for destruction, but she will not go down that path all by herself."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

After viewing Tsigoineruwaizen (1980-also reviewed) I watched Tony Rayns detailed introduction on the Arrow Blu-Ray. Along with discussing the film, Rayns mentioned that the other two in the trilogy are more abstract, leading to me going back to the Taisho period.

View on the film:

Featuring a delicate colour balance, Arrow present an immaculate spotless picture transfer with a clean soundtrack.

The last ever production that cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka would work on, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki proves to be in perfect synch with his regular cinematographer,as the duo are joined by Suzuki's long time production designer Noriyoshi Ikeya and former long time editor Akira Suzuki making a return.

Walking down to the great outdoors in the opening, Suzuki makes it gloriously visible that he has a full team on his side, with Matsuzaki (played by a wonderful Yusaku Matsuda,whose regal shell is cracked open by Matsuda,as Matsuzaki starts to question his reality) being wrapped in lush wet green surroundings hanging down the screen in long-take wide-shots (a major recurring motif of Suzuki.)

Poetically bringing the curtain down on the Taisho period with a delightful stage show within a film final, Suzuki takes the surrealist stylisation that has been building across his credits, and slides it into abstract avant-garde, casting a eerie, sensual supernatural atmosphere with glistening Japanese New Wave jump-cuts being layered on long, lingering shot which dice down on Matsuzuko's unsettled doubts over meeting a mysterious woman who looks just like the wife of his benefactor.

Stated later by Suzuki that he had wanted to make a adaptation of a Kyoka Izumi novel for years, the screenplay by Yozo Tanaka weaves elements from four Izumi novels (!) into a hypnotic tapestry,where each piece of Izumi's writings is placed next to a continuation of the doppelgänger, ghostly memories of Zigeunerweisen (1980-also reviewed),leading to a enticing friction on reality being created,which takes Matsuzaki to the end of the Taisho period.

I saw this film as a part of a Suzuki retrospective in Amsterdam, my first meeting with Suzuki, not knowing that it is all but representative for his more famous work from 50s-60s.

The plot of the film is difficult to describe because it is told almost without a cohesive narrative and totally non-linear and disjointed. I've never seen a film that resembles a feverish dream so closely. Roughly the story is about man confronted by one man (a rich business-man) and two women (a Japanese Geisha and a European, who dresses like a Japanese women).

Besides the 'narrative' distorted uniqueness, which allows the characters to jump from one location to the next or pop up (even within the same shot),the other interesting aspects of the film are the locations, the visuals and inter-textual connections. Just to name a few: We see the protagonist on a range of different locations in the Japan of the 1920s, both in the city as in the countrysides. Also the European woman with her piercing blue eyes and blonde hair (only when the moon shines) is a fascinating image. Suzuki's use of distorted Japanese paintings as a backdrop and a No-play performed by children in the final part of the film send shivers down my spine.

Although the film drags a bit in the middle, I left the theater with a positive, if slightly confused feeling. Maybe I liked it because it lacks any form of explicit explanation, just like a dream subjects you to an illogical and irrational 'story' that somehow makes sense. It is a film that forces you to leave every sense of (western) storytelling at the door. Or maybe it was just because it is fascinating to see a film in which every next shot is the complete unknown.