SYNOPSICS
Shinjû: Ten no Amijima (1969) is a Japanese movie. Masahiro Shinoda has directed this movie. Kichiemon Nakamura,Shima Iwashita,Shizue Kawarazaki,Tokie Hidari are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1969. Shinjû: Ten no Amijima (1969) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
During feudal times in Osaka, Koharu, a courtesan, and Jihei, a married paper merchant, fall in love, they having met in he being one of her regular customers. Their passion for each other is all consuming, especially for Kihei who leaves the running of the paper store in the hands of his wife, Osan. At the beginning of each month - twenty-nine months thus far - Jihei writes a vow to Koharu to free her from her life so that they can be together. However, he doesn't have the money to pay her ransom, he spending whatever money he has in paying for her services. In the meantime, anyone can pay her ransom, she who would be his possession. Jihei and Koharu have vowed to commit suicide together so that they can be together for eternity if they cannot be together on Earth. Jihei and Koharu's journey is affected by several people: his brother, Magoemon, and Osan's parents, who want Jihei to to do right by Osan as her husband and father to their two young children; wealthy Tahei, who believes ...
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Shinjû: Ten no Amijima (1969) Reviews
Truly one-of-a-kind
"Double Suicide" is a bunraku puppet performance at its core, with perhaps the only difference being that actual humans play the roles of the puppets. The puppet masters, their faces covered with thin black silk masks, move around props, rapidly change the minimal sets, never interfering with the plot or the characters, yet moving them forward and cooperating with them in a way that is not at all distracting. The puppets themselves are finely crafted, and the characters that they play present a depth of humanity that is rare in all forms of staged entertainment (whether it be a movie, a play, or the like). Being puppets, however, the viewer is left feeling detached from them, even if there is a sense of humanity present that one can grasp. Oddly enough, that is a good thing in this case - it increases the sense of how the only thing that one could do when the tragic events unfold is to watch. This is not a film for all tastes, obviously. But the same statement can apply to the bunraku puppet play that this movie is based on. This performance is pulled off with perfection, and I highly recommend it. 10 out of 10
Unique and mesmerizing
A mesmerizing film which asks deep questions about the role interplay] of fate and free will in human actions. The occasional appearance of hooded background figures and their actions, sometimes just to change the scenery, is done in such a casual manner that it underlines the view that we are not always in full command of what is perceived to be our reality. The ending is truly stunning. A one of a kind experience!
Intensely emotional
Similar to the fate of the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet, Double Suicide by Masahiro Shinoda is Shakespearean in its theme of lovers who are forbidden by society's rules to be together and can only find fulfillment in death. The film is based on a 1720 Kabuki (or Bunraku) puppet play, The Love Suicide at Amijima by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, who has been called the Japanese Shakespeare. As the film begins, black-clad puppeteers known as kurago are busy assembling puppets and setting the stage for the drama. Soon live actors replace the puppets but the puppeteers remain in the background, silent participants changing the sets, assembling the props, and "pulling the strings", representing perhaps the inexorable hand that guides our lives or as Shinoda has said the `thin line between truth and falsehood". The film is intensely emotional and has the feel of grand opera but the puppeteers make clear the artificiality of the drama and keep us distanced. In the film, Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) is a paper merchant who is married with two young children. Though he loves his wife Osan, he has been secretly seeing a courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita who also plays Osan) for two and a half years. He has dissipated his fortune at the brothel and now cannot raise enough money to redeem Koharu from her enslavement to the brothel's owner (Kamatari Fujiwara). Though his family finds out about their romance and Osan tries to persuade Jehei to sever the relationship, it becomes apparent that the bond is unbreakable and we watch helplessly as the inevitable tragedy unfolds. Double Suicide has a haunting score by Toru Takemitsu and amazing black and white photography, shown in sharp detail and contrast in the new Criterion DVD, and is highly recommended for a unique viewing experience.
Double Suicide (1969)
With highly stylized, indisputably unique art-house films like Masahiro Shinoda's Double Suicide, it's always a challenge to describe these works because there's just so much to say. This movie is considered to be one of the most notable films from the Japanese New Wave, aka the "movement that never officially existed but let's just call it a movement" movement, which is nevertheless one of the most thematically and artistically fascinating movie periods. Double Suicide is based upon the 1721 play The Love Suicides at Amijima by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, which touches on one of Chikamatsu's apparently recurring themes, love and individuality getting royally owned by the system. This play is often performed in bunraku (puppet theatre) style, while Shinoda's film mixes avantgarde techniques with bunraku and kabuki theatre styles. The sets are strange and not at all realistic; huge white floors with doodles and letters/kanji characters written all over them, revolving background walls, characters getting lost in the indoor decor with giant traditional drawings all over the walls and floors, and so on. Sometimes, the footage goes into slow-motion or the camera just freezes on a single frame for a dramatic effect. Some half-second long establishing shots are repeated. The backdrops change their appearance as the film progresses. For example, the calligraphic texts on the walls of the protagonist's shop become amorphous ink blobs dripping down. Kichiemon Nakamura and Shima Iwashita (who plays both main female characters), as well as the other actors, do a great job in their extremely theatrical and melodramatic roles, fitting in with the rest of the kabuki charm this movie has going for it. Before the three-act storyline begins, we have the opening credits scene which shows the puppets for the play being prepared (before getting substituted by real- life actors), while we listen to a phone conversation between Masahiro Shinoda and Taeko Tomioka (a co-writer), where they discuss the script as well as location hunting for the penultimate scene. Another notable factor is the use of the kuroko (black-clad stagehands), a Japanese theatrical tradition. The kuroko intervene in nearly every scene, but they never come across as a gimmick. Sometimes they fit in so naturally that you forget they're even there until they move. They assist the actors in handling objects, they prepare the stage and the backgrounds, but never literally interfere with the storyline; after all, they're just spectators, such as ourselves the audience. One scene in particular I find to be amusing - after a character receives a letter, a kuroko takes it and brings it closer to the camera so the viewer can read it, while the two actors in the background freeze and stay still until the kuroko returns the letter to one of them. Now they can finally snap out and resume the dialogue. The final 10 minutes are pure genius. The much-awaited suicide scene (it's not even a spoiler because the title and the intro make it obvious) has gorgeous photography all around. Just the shot of the kuroko standing at the far end of the bridge while the lovers are positioned in the middle is one of the most astonishing and memorable film shots I've ever seen. It all culminates in the incredibly shot hanging scene (the kuroko, of course, are there to prepare the noose), accompanied by Toru Takemitsu's fantastic score (he also co-wrote the film), before settling down to the shot of two corpses laying on the ground which closes the movie suddenly, without any ending screen or anything (or is my version of the film defective?) Double Suicide is one of the best Japanese New Wave films I've seen and the proof that a creative filming style can single-handedly salvage a plot that in itself is not that interesting.
Original Theatrical Japanese Shakespearian Love Story
In 18th Century in Japan, the paper merchant Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) falls in love for the courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita), but he can not afford to redeem her from her master and owner of the brothel, since he spent all his money in the place with Koharu. Jihei's wife Osan tries to keep her husband with his two children and asks Koharu to leave him. The two lovers make a pact of double suicide to escape from the rigid rules of the Japanese society of 1720 and stay together after death. "Shinjû: Ten no Amijima" is an extremely original movie, based on a Japanese puppeteers theater (called "Bunraku") popular play by Monzaemon Chikamatsu. The Shakespearian story of an impossible love is theatrically performed, inclusive with the presence of the "kuragos", the puppet masters that conduct the puppets in the "Bunraku". Although being much related to Japanese culture, this movie is a great experience for those like me that have interest in other cultures. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Duplo Suicídio em Amijima" ("Double Suicide in Amikima")