Événement

AN ACTORS REVENGE - (YUKINOJO HENGE) - JAPANESE FILM WEEKEND

A uniquely prolific and chameleonic figure of world cinema , director Kon Ichikawa delivered a burst of stylistic bravado with this intricate tale of betrayal and retribution. Set in the cloistered world of nineteenth-century kabuki theater, the film charts a female impersonators attempts to avenge the deaths of his parents, who were driven to insanity and suicide by a trio of corrupt men. Ichikawa takes the conventions of melodrama and turns them on their head, bringing the heros fractured psyche to life in boldly experimental widescreen compositions infused with kaleidoscopic color, pop-art influences, and meticulous choreography. Anchored by a magnificently androgynous performance by Kazuo Hasegawa, reprising a role he had played on-screen three decades earlier,

(1963, 113 minutes)

Kon Ichikawas mind-blowing An Actors Revenge is concerned with doubles and triples, with nesting forms of art and identity Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine, Feb 21, 2018

Hasegawas performance as the actor is a marvel of sexual ambiguity. (Hes also charming and funny as the robust bandit.) Throughout, the director, Kon Ichikawa, succeeds in making all the world a stage, mixing theatrical and cinematic devices with earthquake intensity. - Michael Sragow, The New Yorker