As Irmãs Makioka

The Makioka Sisters shows Ichikawa going back to one of the greatest 20th Century Japanese writers, Junichiro Tanizaki. Ichikawa had already directed, in the 1950s, a stunning adaptation of the Tanizaki novel The Key. The Key is an elliptical comedy about erotic fixation, with a lush visual style of saturated colors. The Makioka Sisters is a more subtle and delicate film, attuned as the novel was to the undercurrents running through the highly structured lives of the main characters. In some ways, the novel was Tanizaki's attempt to write a modern version of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, and Ichikawa seems to have understood this in his adaptation, which brings a great deal of low-key humor and psychological insight to the proceedings, all very much in the Genji style. Essential viewing.

Not being in the mood for a Japanese take on "Masterpiece Theatre" I bailed about halfway through this Kon Icikawa offering. I notice several prior reviewers have compared this film to the works of Ozu. And while it is true that "Sisters" is a family drama, a genre Ozu all but invented in his country, it could not be more different in mood and feel. Where works such as "Late Spring" and "Tokyo Story" are contemplative, sad and often quite funny I found this film to be melodramatic, stiff and occasionally amusing. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two directors is in the pacing. Where Ozu's best films flow, slowly but inexorably, toward a powerful conclusion I found Ichikawa's pacing to be, well, let's use the "Masterpiece" analogy again. Too many indoor scenes that felt like skilled, dramatic readings from Tanizaki's great novel rather than a visual adaptation of it. Which is not to say the film isn't beautiful to look at. Indeed, it is gorgeous, with resplendant costumes and art direction that marvelously recreate Japan on the eve of Disaster (otherwise known as WW2). In fact, it is the look of the film that kept me from bailing sooner. C plus.

One should first read The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki to better understand this film. It is a very great novel about the life of four middle-class sisters in Osaka, Japan in the 1930's. The book describes in great detail the many subtleties of life in Japan which a Westerner can miss understanding in the film. The film rather closely follows the book and is very beautifully photographed.

Kon Ichikawa probably is the director who most rightfully can be considered to be the successor of Yasujiro Ozu. At the beginning of his career he made a couple of war films, but later his subject was more and more the daily life of middle class families.

"The Makioka sisters" is a film from the second half of his career and is about the relationships between four sisters of a family in the Kimono business. All the sisters are different. The two oldest are married, number 3 and 4 are still single. The oldest one runs the external (business) relations, the second one runs the internal (family) relations. Number 3 is looking for a husband the traditional way and is choosy in this regard. Number 4, who can (according to tradition) only marry when number 3 is finally married, is more easy going. She finds the character of her potential boy friends more important than his social standing.

"The Makioka sisters" was a film in honor of the 50th anniversary of the production company, so the film had to be a little festive. Situating the film in a family in the kimono business enabled Ichikawa to use bright colors, and in this respect the film reminded me of "Ju Dou" (1990, Zhang Yimou).

Due to the possibility of using bright colors in a film and not in a book, one is inclined to say that in this case the film must be better than the book. Some years ago I read (another) book from the writer Jun'ichiro Tanizaki and now I am not so sure anymore. Tanizaki turned out to be a very subtle writer. Maybe I need to read "The Makioka sisters" some day to come to a final judgement.

We saw this beautiful movie several years ago at a Pacific Film Archive showing. We had read the book and found the film followed it faithfully and was gorgeously photographed. We just wish we knew if and when it will ever be made available on DVD or videotape. It was a pleasure to see a film that depicts life in nearly modern Japan with realistic people and locations. We have seen so many "studied" and arty films or medieval Japan that this one has remained a favorite ever since. We were pleased when a beautiful copy of "The Leopard" was released last year and hope that something this classic and beautiful can be made available to viewers.