An Actor’s Revenge

I finally got around to screencapping An Actor’s Revenge, which I watched recently. Click here to view.

This, Kon Ichikawa’s film, was made to commemorate the actor Kazuo Hasegawa’s 300th performance as an actor. It is actually a remake of a film that Hasegawa had also appeared in. Hasegawa plays two roles – a female-impersonating Kabuki actor and an infamous thief.

At first look, the film is one of the most bizarre revenge flicks on the shelf (and that’s saying a lot). Hasegawa plays Yuki – a female-impersonator kabuki actor and secret swordsman. He uses this persona on and off the stage, dressing and speaking as a woman in daily life. Yuki, with his feminine presence and masculine strength, charms at once the infamous thief Yamitaro (also played by Hasegawa), a rival female thief Ohatsu, and the magistrate’s daughter Namiji. Stop me if you see where this is going. Yes, the intimate scenes between Yuki, forever in-character as a female, and his lovers commence. Not too intimate, but enough to seem just a tad over-the-top. All the while, the film plays to the tune of an almost-comedic jazz score.

After listening to Yuki’s strained feminine voice for so long it becomes very difficult to take the film seriously and, after all, this is the director’s intention. At first it seems unnatural to dismiss the storyline of a film of such exquisite visual style, but it honestly plays like the equivalent of a Japanese Opera Buffa. Ichikawa is in fact expects us to see humour in the cult that surrounds Yuki. He is satirizng the traditions of Kabuki and Japan in general, but doing so in style. The films crooked angles and minimalistic sets and lighting give the look and feel of watching a real Kabuki play. And it’s surprising that the film isn’t more popular simply because of that.

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