And that is where dramatic poetry flows, from suspense to heartbreak and the warm sweat of crying a hedonist like Yumeji who collapses into the decline of the poetry of the bodies whose banquet had been urgent as impossible, until now, to deprive himself.

A caricature of himself, Yumeji saw the multiplicity of his "I" shot up in the foolish personalities that soon displaced him.

What sublime scenes in the Wakiya mansion; first, the demon Matsu, prowling him, then his indomitable muse or model, Tomoyo the self-sacrificing wife who, despite her stubborn reluctance to the intruder, ends up giving him not one but both sleeves of the marriage kimono; inside, the secrets: a Mr. Wakiya hunter who gives up and with a code reminiscent of samurai prefers suicide by failing to kill him; a jealous husband more disappeared than truly dead; a refined aesthetic of kitsch-peppered suspense where the Colts of the western and the unusual feminine background exhaust the cameo pursued by the game of gazes along with the mysterious soundtrack, the humiliating slowdown of the painter as precious her indifference, ah! And the expectant crow.

Narrative at times elevated and surreal as in a David Lynch story, and then the theatrical baroque of a well-crafted farce.

Along with Kagero-za AKA Heat shimmer theater, one of my Suzuki favorites.

"Fairly speaking, Suzuki's male protagonists are made up by cowards, Aochi is too retiring and prim to acknowledge his feelings for geisha O-Ine (Ôtani) and her doppelgänger Sono (Ôtani again),Nakasago's ill-treated wife; Shunko is a spooky fool who is none the wiser in the parlous game of temptation and sadomasochism; whereas Yumeji (rocker Sawada) is reduced to a skirt chaser whose raffish charm is lost on audience. Meantime, Suzuki and his scribe Yôzô Tanaka concoct a counterbalance in the person of Yoshio Harada, who appears in all three pictures (although in KAGERO-ZA, his role is a minor one),and basically plays the same character, the fickle, macho, irresponsible type, who is both attracted and repelled by pretty women, a standpoint streams across the trilogy."

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

When I decided that in July 2020 I would view every Arrow Blu-Ray dedicated to auteur film maker Seijun Suzuki by starting with Eight Hours of Terror (1957-also reviewed),I looked forward to ending with the first Suzuki box set I had purchased.

View on the film:

Ending their first box set dedicated to the film maker on a strong note, Arrow present a terrific transfer with a clean image, a smooth soundtrack and detailed extras on the title.

Taking a decade after the second to be filmed due to the producer having money trouble, and the last full solo feature the film maker would make for a whole decade, ( Pistol Opera (2001) being what broke the silence) directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reveals that he used the gap between both parts, to create new methods to expand his distinctive surrealist motifs, as Suzuki & cinematographer Jun'ichi Fujisawa draw Yumeji Takehisa's painting with incredibly fluid tracking shots swinging through the icy dream-logic atmosphere going upwards to wide crane shots across the outdoor dour Gothic landscape.

Reuniting with his long-term editor Akira Suzuki, Seijun Suzuki continues to spread Japanese New Wave jump-cuts scattering paintings across the walls,and elegantly framed dissolves bringing a ghostly presence into Takehisa's paintings.

Marking a huge departure from the vibrant colours of his other features, Suzuki strips the walls bare white,and hang the camera at floor level precisely centered, straight-on framed shots, held in long takes by the Suzuki's that brush into the distortion of Takehisa.

Joining with the Suzuki's to complete the trilogy, the screenplay by Yozo Tanaka blends a loose examination of Yumeji Takehisa's paintings, with a thoughtful conclusion to the doppelgänger psychological doubts, unshakeable ghosts keeping Tskehisa haunted by the past, and sensual paintings running red to a glittering final shot drawing a end to the Taisho era.