Japanese stories
Samurai Spy
Discover works by a pioneer of the Japanese New Wave
Director Masahiro Shinoda once said, "I would like to be able to take hold of the past and make it stand still so that I can examine it from different angles." Unlike the more provocative films by his peer Nagisa Ôshima (In the Realm of the Senses), Shinoda's works are more interested in exploring the alienation, displacement and spiritual emptiness felt in post-war Japan than in pushing political and sexual boundaries.
His films explore universal themes like morality and faith and his aesthetics are highly stylised and distinctive. Strongly influenced by traditional Japanese art forms such as kabuki (musical drama) and bunraku (puppet theatre), Shinoda's use of unorthodox camera angles, lighting and montage placed him at the forefront of the Japanese New Wave; as critic Josh Rosenblatt wrote, "More than any of his contemporaries in Japan, Shinoda seemed to recognize the value in rebelling against the accepted technical confines of the genre and not just the thematic ones."
Presented by the Melbourne Cinémathèque, 'Samurais, Assassins, Rebels and Double Suicides' is a season of Shinoda's best films from the 1960s, including The Assassination, Samurai Spy and what is arguably his masterpiece, Double Suicide. A reworking of an 18th century bunraku play, Double Suicide epitomises Shinoda's radical style and theatrical influences, particularly with the presence of the kukuro (hooded, black-clad puppeteers) who seemingly act as silent witnesses. The film is, according to Aaron Cutler in Slant Magazine, "a film that both disturbs and shakes in total effect" and is not to be missed.
Published Thursday, 11 August 2011
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