Bakumatsu taiyôden

Who would have guessed it? A genuinely funny farce out of Japan at a time (1957) when the likes of Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu were keeping the straightest of faces, "Sun in the time of the Shogunate" was actually voted the 4th greatest Japanese film of all time by that most prestigious of Japnaese film magazines 'Kinema Junpo'. It's certainly not that; anyone of the films by anyone of the aforementioned directors would leave it in the cold but it's still a sublime entertainment nevertheless and it's easy to see why it's so popular in its own country.

The setting is a brothel in Shinagawa and the action hardly ever ventures outside. The central character is a delightful con-man known as 'The Grifter' who arrives with his friends one night but without a penny in his pocket to pay for the services they receive so he stays...and stays and stays, first to the chagrin of the owners, the girls and the customers but in time he becomes a part of the furniture, doing little deals here and there until he becomes virtually indespensible.

Of course, such a plot is as old as hills but director Yuzo Kawashima keeps it spinning along at lightening speed helped by a wonderful cast headed by Furanki Sakau as The Grifter. Even a subplot involving a group of nationalists with a plan to blow up 'the foreigner's quarters' fits perfectly into a film that, while set at the end of the 19th century, also manages to pass comment on a Japan not long out of a world war. Amazingly, it's not well-known in the West at all but it's a classic of its kind and is well worth seeking out.

Not the easiest film for a non Japanese to follow and certainly not an easy one to review. I see I am the first to make any sort of attempt. There is always some difficulty with period films from Japan because we on the outside seem to have so little knowledge of that history and are immediately at a disadvantage. There is another difficult when it comes to comedy. So much Japanese humour seems to be derived from word play (as in England) and unfortunately if you are relying upon a subtitle translation inevitably there is going to be a problem with the subtlety being 'lost in translation'. Another obstacle for modern western viewers is what I tend to refer to as the crazy slapstick tendency. It happens in Chinese as well as Japanese films and again does not always translate well to others. I think this is made more difficult here because the lead was a well known funny man and much of what he does will have been funny through familiarity. Despite all that, the film is well shot, everything happens at a frantic pace, there are no ponderous or slow passages but you do have to try and remember who is who. Another difficulty for western views but I shall not be expanding upon that. A much loved film in its native country and surely worth a watch.

This guy (who, mind you, is not a bad director) already made a movie set in the prostitution world in the previous year, it was not set in ancient japan but it was about a prostitute and a prostitution racket nonetheless. What was the appeal of making ANOTHER MOVIE where the prostitutes play an important part? A whole generation of japanese filmmakers could not imagine ANY OTHER SUBJECT than prostitutes and prostitution because I don't know, they were afraid their manly urges to pay for having sex would be somehow castrated? It gets boring on the longer period, I'll tell you that.

Pros: 1. The costume and set design are incredible, and it cements the 1860's Japan era wonderfully. 2. The fight between Osome (Sachiko Hidari) and Koharu (Yôko Minamida) is well-shot and extremely entertaining to watch. 3. The cinematography is great and is visually stunning in a minimalist sense. 4. The score is fun and bouncy when it needs to be, but can also slow down to add real weight to the emotional scenes. 5. Both Furankî Sakai (Inokori Saheiji) and Shoichi Ozawa (Kinzo) give fantastic performances. 6. Some of the gags are utterly hilarious. A good example of this would be when Kinzo pretends to be dead to guilt-shame Koharu.

Cons: 1. Some of the humour falls flat and comes across as trying too hard. 2. There are way too many characters which serves for poor character development, and thus any connection you might attach to them. 3. The plot doesn't have any firm structure and it seems to just wander about whilst introducing a load of sub-plots along the way. It doesn't make for much engrossing viewership. 4. The foreigner sub-plot, regarding the British and the Americans, doesn't go anywhere. It's a little baffling as to why it was even included.