This 51-minute documentary about Keiko Kishi starts out like a puff piece about a woman who attained fame early as a movie actress, and used that fame to do what she wanted, whether it was shocking the Japanese gossip magazines by marrying a French man, using her clout and connections to make KWAIDAN, and when that turned into a financial failure, paying off the debt through hard work for ten years. Then in her mod-40s, she changed her direction again and became a photojournalist who went to some awful hot spots.
I know Miss Kishi primarily as a performer in several Japanese movies, yet when I examined my records, I discovered she rarely commanded my attention except for Ichikawa's OTOTO, where she played the lead.... and even then the movie struck me as good but not the masterpiece some proclaim it. In the end, this ended where it started, as a puff piece. She has had a good and interesting life, and I am glad for her. However, I expect that had she not been there, there would have been another documentary about some other woman.
