Hana no ran

Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. :D Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.

The cinematography is lovely, and sets and costumes are faithful to the era, when old Japan was once again confronted by new styles from the West.

This is a strange mix. The overall scope is that of your typical British miniseries based on a pulp novel. You know the kind that borders on romance fiction but focuses on the travails of a woman. The style of the photography and especially the score is derived from that cheap romanticism.

But the story. Its probably as cheap and trite to a Japanese viewer, but it engaged me in spite of the hammy performances. Its about writing, and love and revolution, but always writing first.

Our central character is a writer, a rather lovely woman whose poetry we hear a bit. Its even more lovely. But writing is about controlled tightening and in most of us that means love. This woman doesn't seek love, but it does come. And it does work. And it is dangerously passionate and produces danger in those she knows.

Meanwhile, there are authorities and nature, both of which conspire against each other and written passion. The ending, I'm afraid is far weaker than the rest of it, with the very best part in the third of four acts.

Its pretentious and overblown, but the story resonated with me.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.