Gan

(1953) The Wild Geese/ Gan (In Japanese with English subtitles) DRAMA/ CHARACTER STUDY

Adapted from the novel by Ogai Mori, that has an elder lady, Oshige attempting to set up a single and rather young, Otama (Hideko Takamine) with a date with her loan shark, in exchange for him to forgive the loan. At the same time Oshige continues to remind her that her impoverished dad's health is waning, and at some point may not be able to continue to sell penny candy anymore. By the time, Oshige manages to convince Otami for a meet and greet, it turns out, he Suezô, (Eijirô Tôno) is a much older man, and that his occupation is really a money lender, often loathed by the community because of his interest rates. Contradicting what was told to her about him, that he owns a kimono shop, and that despite having him having children, he has no wife at all because she is deceased. Otami, of course eventually finds out about this after already accepting lavish gifts and a better home, including a housekeeper. She also finds out that her dad also knows about it as well, but chose not to say anything, she at this point begin to accept the term of her being his "mistress". Creating conflict within herself as she becomes accustomed to be attracted to a student who walks past her house daily, we find out he is a student, Mr Okada (Hiroshi Akutagawa) studying to be a doctorate. And he too depends on the loan shark, Suezô, some people often call "the master".

What I like about this movie is it's subtleties in terms of it's approach that does not need to be graphic, but is shown instead many implications, both from Otama's point of view as well as her father to other's that have their own selfish reasons the reason why some have done the things each of them have done.

Unspeakably beautiful, delicate and immutable. There is no weakness in the chain of imagery, the power of forces controlling the lives of the characters, painted on the screen like calligraphy. Necessity cages the characters in images as simple as a bird threatened by a snake, to the money lender once janitor to the kept woman generous to her servant to the cruelty of the wagging tongues. Nothing here a traditional American audience demands and receives from Hollywood; only the lucidity of the haiku or bonsai, the migration of the wild geese. Cinematic perfection.

A young woman is forced to reckon with a fate which has made her the mistress of a ruthless moneylender. Another in a long series of long suffering Japanese women caught in unbearable circumstances. Pretty much a common theme in Japanese films of the 50s. What makes this one different is the astonishing fluid, wonderfully composed direction of Toyoda. Someone who I never heard of before seeing The Wild Geese. The use of tight street scenes and forced perspective is extremely effective at creating a sense of time and space. In fact, this movie's technique resembles more the work of a David Lean or William Wyler than any of the major Japanese directors of the period. The score is heartbreaking and stirring. Then there's the acting . Everyone here is magnificent. One minor critique being that the students look a tad old. Hideko Takamine will break your heart in the lead as Otama . And that ending! Enigmatic with a capital "E"!

"She's uncontrollable when she gets hysterical." "That's because you lied to her, like all men."

This is a heartfelt melodrama, one that empathizes with women and the unfair position they held in the Meiji era of Japan, 1868-1912, and, perhaps by extension, their position when the film was made. The premise is simple: out of financial desperation, a young woman (Hideko Takemine) becomes the mistress to a loathsome money lender, only afterwards finding out his real occupation, and that he's married. She's been set up by a woman who owes the loan shark money and hopes to use the relationship to get out of debt, and she's encouraged in this by her elderly father as a practical way for them to get out of poverty. She had been duped by a man before, you see, and is "damaged," limiting her prospects. The feeling of her being trapped, forced to use her body as her only option, is heartbreaking.

When the young woman meets a medical student (Hiroshi Akutagawa) the pair have eyes for one another, but class restrictions make entertaining a romance difficult. Another student points out to the young man that he's a medical student and she's a kept woman, so he should forget about her. Meanwhile, her father, who's essentially profited from his daughter having sex with a middle-aged man, cautions her, saying "How can you give up the life you have and go back to the living hell of poverty?" Meanwhile, the mistress's "master" (Eijiro Tono) keeps a close eye on her, and despite his duplicity to both his wife and her, has the nerve to get upset even when he finds out she's learning to sew kimonos, saying, "Have you been hiding something from me? I won't allow that!" Not surprisingly, the double standard is in full effect.

Hideko Takemine plays her part with the perfect balance between control and emotion, and is radiant to say the least. The shot where director Shiro Toyoda changes the lighting on her face from background to foreground in a close-up is absolutely gorgeous. Her character has a sense of integrity even when trying to fulfill the obligations of the role fate has assigned her, heightening the emotions. It seems she's constantly having to slide the windows of her little apartment closed, as people walking by peer in, or her master wants her. In this I saw a symbol of hiding, or the potential for discovery of unpleasant truths, bringing shame to her.

To Toyoda's credit, he humanizes all of these characters, including the moneylender, who we find had to work hard as a janitor to college students, saving his meager tips before starting his business. His wife finds out about the affair through a clever device in the plot, and vents her displeasure with him. First he denies it, and then when confronted with evidence, admits it but says her "job" as a wife has actually gotten easier now, though the film's sympathies are clearly with her.

The film also does not succumb to artifice in its main story, or its few subplots. There is a woman with five children who owes the moneylender, and to keep up with her payments, is forced to become a prostitute down by the river. While there is a level of acceptance in the ending for the main character, there is also a cruel reality, especially as we imagine her future. Great film, and a near miss for an even higher rating.

The flow of films showing the hard lives of women, and the position they are put in, were at their height in 1950s Japan, and this is without a doubt a standout. Hideko Takamine and character actor Eijirô Tôno are stunning as the kept and the keeper. She, accepting the role of mistress, he, the hated moneylender, barely keeping the illusions which made her accept.

Toyoda's direction is strong, and almost fearless. At times he goes even darker and deeper than most peers, leaving us to study "Otama", and see her self respect slowly fade away. The films only flaw is it's occasional lack of subtlety where it feels like the characters just "had to" voice what we should (and usually already are) feeling - but these occasions are luckily rare. I might also have enjoyed it even more without the introduction of a slight sense of hope, but it's harshness and melancholy is still very much there, in almost every moment.

In fact there is at most time a sense of crassness, especially when Tôno is on the screen. Each gesture, each act, each line. You can genuinely feel why he is despised by the people around him, and this without him ever being overtly cruel, something he brilliantly would be the first to point out.

Toyoda had a brilliant eye for detail, and managed to do things they sometimes even had a hard time doing, such as letting every single character, no matter how small, shine in their own way, and be truly worth remembering. Even more incredibly, no one steals the spotlight away from Otame. Each event, each character, they all reflect upon her story, and often adds a further layer to her prison.