Zigeunerweisen (film)

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Zigeunerweisen
Directed bySeijun Suzuki
Written byYōzō Tanaka
Hyakken Uchida (novel)
Produced byGenjiro Arato
StarringYoshio Harada
Naoko Otani
Toshiya Fujita
CinematographyKazue Nagatsuka
Edited byNobutake Kamiya
Music byKaname Kawachi
Distributed byCinema Placet
Release date
  • April 1, 1980 (1980-04-01)
Running time
145 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Zigeunerweisen (

Taishō period (1912-1926) setting. All three were produced by Genjiro Arato
.

When exhibitors declined to screen the film, Arato screened it himself in an inflatable, mobile tent to great success. It won Honourable Mention at the

Japanese Academy Awards
and won four, including best director and best film, and was voted the number one Japanese film of the 1980s by Japanese critics.

Plot

Vacationing in a small seaside village, Aochi, a professor of German language, runs into Nakasago, a former colleague turned nomad. Nakasago is being pursued by an angry mob for allegedly seducing and killing a fisherman's wife. The two catch up over dinner where they are entertained by and become smitten with the mourning geisha Koine. Six months later, Aochi visits Nakasago to find that he has settled down and is having a child with Sono, a woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to Koine. Nakasago plays him a recording of Zigeunerweisen and they discuss inaudible mumbling on the record. Nakasago suddenly takes to the road again with Koine, leaving Sono to birth their child alone. Both men enter affairs with the other's wife. Nakasago suggests to Aochi that whoever outlives the other should get the other's bones. Sono later dies of the flu and is replaced by Koine as a surrogate mother. Nakasago takes to the road yet again. Aochi learns of Nakasago's death in a landslide. Years later, Koine visits Aochi and requests the return of the Zigeunerweisen record but he is sure he never borrowed it. When his wife reveals the record, he rushes over to deliver it to Koine. Koine explains that her daughter, Toyoko, talks in her sleep about Nakasago. On his way home, Aochi encounters Toyoko, who demands his bones.

Cast

Production

Director

Go. The story was based on Hyakken Uchida's novel, Disk of Sarasate. It was felt to be too short and was expanded from their conversations. For example, when Tanaka's uncle died during that time, he noticed that his cremated bones were pink. This was incorporated into the screenplay.[2]

Suzuki's de facto blacklisting ended with the release of his critically and commercially unsuccessful 1977 film A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness. The money to finance Zigeunerweisen only became available in 1979 when Suzuki met then–theatre producer Genjiro Arato.[3] Thus it became their first fully independently produced film.[4] It was shot on location in Japan.[5]

Style and themes

Zigeunerweisen is a departure from director Suzuki Seijun's

period setting and subject matter invited a more literary audience as opposed to the younger genre fans that formed Suzuki's cult following.[5] On the other hand, freed of studio constraints, Suzuki was able to carry his style even further in the direction his genre work had taken and abandon traditional narrative entirely in favour of random occurrences and incongruous and misleading associations. He presents, comments on and challenges the conceptions of the Taishō era, specifically the wide introduction and assimilation of Western culture into Japan and its effect on the Japanese identity.[4][5]

Releases and reception

Producer Genjiro Arato was unable to procure exhibitors for Zigeunerweisen and exhibited the film himself with his company Cinema Placet in a specially-built, inflatable, mobile tent.

DVD (without English subtitles), marking its debut on home video.[5][9]

The film was not distributed internationally but did appear in film festivals and retrospectives. It was screened in competition at the

Kino International released a DVD edition of the film on March 7, 2006. It features a 25-minute interview with Suzuki discussing the making of the Taishō Roman Trilogy, a biography and filmography of the same, the theatrical trailer and a gallery of promotional material and photographs. The DVD is also available in a box set encompassing the trilogy.[13]

Awards

Zigeunerweisen received nine nominations at the 1981

Japanese Academy Awards and won in four categories, Best Film, Suzuki won for Best Director, Takeo Kimura for Best Art Director and Michiyo Okusu for Best Supporting Actress. Also nominated were Naoko Otani for Best Actress, Toshiya Fujita for Best Supporting Actor, Yōzō Tanaka for Best Screenplay, Kazue Nagatsuka for Best Cinematography and Mitsuo Onishi for Best Lighting.[14]

At the Kinema Junpo Awards, it duplicated the same four wins plus a fifth Best Actress award for Naoko Otani. At the

Mainichi Film Concurs (Best Screenplay and Best Cinematographer).[15] The film was also voted the best Japanese film of the 1980s by Japanese film critics.[4]

On the international front, the film won Honourable Mention at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival in 1981.[10]

References

  1. ^ Suzuki, Seijun (interviewee) (1999). Tokyo Drifter interview (DVD). The Criterion Collection.
  2. ^ Suzuki, Seijun (interviewee) (2006). Suzuki Discusses the Making of the Taisho Trilogy (DVD).
    Kino International
    .
  3. ^ a b "Seijun Suzuki". Asian Film Foundation. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  4. ^ a b c d e
    ISBN 0-905263-44-8
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e f DiNitto, Rachel (2004). "Translating Prewar Culture into Film: The Double Vision of Suzuki Seijun's Zigeunerweisen" (PDF). The Journal of Japanese Studies. Retrieved 2007-09-04. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "Zigeunerweizen (1980)". Asian Film Foundation. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  7. ^ ツィゴイネルワイゼン (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  8. ^ Kurei, Hibiki (2001). "Deep Seijun". RealTokyo. Archived from the original on 2001-05-15. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  9. ^ Brown, Todd (March 2006). "Zigeunerweisen Review".
    Twitch Film
    . Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  10. ^ a b "Prizes & Honours". 1981 Yearbook. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  11. ^ "Edinburgh International Film Festival: 42nd". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2008-03-08. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  12. ^ Rayns, Tony (1994). "Biography". Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun. Institute of Contemporary Arts. p. 46.
    ISBN 0-905263-44-8
    .
  13. ^ Jane, Ian (February 2006). "Review: Zigeunerweisen". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  14. ^ 1981年 第 4回 受賞者・受賞作品一覧. 歴代受賞者・受賞作品 (in Japanese).
    Japan Academy Prize. Archived from the original
    on 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  15. Mainichi Film Awards. Archived from the original
    on 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2007-03-17.

External links
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