Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura
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The Ballad of Narayama
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Zegen
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Black Rain
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The Ballad of Narayama
With its documentary naturalism, earthy sense of humor, and a keen ethnographical eye for the absurdities of human behavior, The Ballad of Narayama represents the epitome of director Shohei Imamura's (Zegen, Black Rain) vigorous explorations of the Japanese spirit, and won the director his first of his two Palme d'Or awards when it played in competition at Cannes in 1983.
In a remote mountain village dominated by poverty, hunger, and hardship, tradition dictates that upon reaching their seventieth year, the elder members of the community are carried to the top of Mount Narayama by their relatives and abandoned to die so as to keep the local population in check. At the age of sixty-nine, Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto, The Pornographers), the matriarch of the Neko family, posesses more vitality and more teeth than many of the villagers half her age. As her time approaches, she nevertheless sets about putting her house in order and preparing her eldest son Tatsuhei (Ken Ogata, Zegen) to accompany her on her one-way ascent to the summit.
Adapted from Shichiro Fukazawa's 1956 source novella Narayama bushiko, itself based on the ancient local folktale Ubasute-yama, The Ballad of Narayama was shot on location over the course of a year, the breathtaking cinematography by Masao Tochizawa capturing the majestic landscapes of the northern Tohoku region across the seasons.
Zegen
Director Shohei Imamura's (The Ballad of Narayama, Black Rain) incendiary satire of Japan's colonial expansion across the southern seas in the early decades of the 20th century is based on the autobiography of Iheiji Muraoka, a notorious sex-trafficker and fervent patriot who set up a string of brothels across Southeast Asia.
After washing up, penniless and destitute in Hong Kong in 1901, Iheiji Muraoka (Ken Ogata, The Ballad of Narayama) assimilates straight away into the local Japanese expatriate community, and is soon set up in the city as an apprentice barber. The Japanese consul has higher goals for him in mind, however, and he finds himself dispatched on a spying mission to investigate Russian military activity in Manchuria. After discovering an enclave of young Japanese women being held as prostitutes, Iheiji spots an opportunity to prove his loyalty to the Emperor and make a quick buck in the process, partnering with his former sweetheart Shiho (Mitsuko Baisho, The Eel) and rehabilitating a group of ex-convicts to build an enterprise that stretches to Malaysia and the Philippines.
Imamura's epic rise-and-fall tale of this mythic adventurer, entrepreneur, and sex-trafficker across several decades builds upon his previous depictions of prostitutes and panderers in such works as The Insect Woman and his documentary Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute to present a ribald counterpart to official history, in which the flag follows the flesh.
Black Rain
Based on the novel of the same name by Masuji Ibuse, Shohei Imamura's (The Ballad of Narayama, Zegen) heart-rending revisiting of the tragedy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the eyes of an ordinary household of hibakusha survivors is seen as among the least characteristic of the director's works and has drawn comparisons with the home dramas of Yasujiro Ozu, the legendary filmmaker under whom he began his career.
In 1950, middle-age couple Shigematsu (Kazuo Kitamura, Tora! Tora! Tora!) and Shigeko (Etsuko Ichihara, The Eel) lead a tranquil village existence with Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka, Ringu 0), the 25-year-old niece they have taken in as their own daughter. While Shigematsu seeks solace whiling away the long summer days with his companions and fellow bomb survivors at the local carp fishing pond, the dark oppressive clouds of the devastation of five years before loom ever present, as the couple find their repeated attempts to find a suitable marriage match for Yasuko fall through due to the suspicion that her blood is tainted by the blast.
The striking black-and-white imagery of Black Rain harkens back to the Golden Age of Japanese cinema of the period in which the film is set, and resulted in a Best Cinematography Award for Takashi Kawamata (Cruel Story of Youth, Zero Focus) at the 1990 Japanese Academy Awards, where the film swept the board with prizes for Best Actress, Best Director, Best Music Score, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress, while Black Rain was recognized by the Ecumenical Jury at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.
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Supplements
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
- Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Tom Mes
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the film by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the film by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Brand new, in-depth appreciation of the film by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Theatrical trailers
- Image gallery
- Alternate color ending, shot by Imamura but removed from the film shortly before its release
- Teaser trailer
- Archival interview with actress Yoshiko Tanaka
- Image gallery
- Archival interview with assistant director Takashi Miike
- Original Japanese press kit (BD-ROM content)
- Theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
- Original Japanese press kit (BD-ROM content)