The 1950s have always been considering Japans golden era of filmmaking. With now legendary director Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" (1950) winning an academy award for best foreign language film and Teinosuke Kinugasa's "Gate of Hell" (1953) becoming the first Japanese film in colour to be released outside of its country, Japan emerged as a strong force in the post war era of film making.

This review is of two films from a lesser-known director of this luminous period, Kon Ichikawa. Famous for his two anti-war dramas "The Burmese Harp" (1956) and "Fires On The Plain" (1959), Kon Ichikawa is often overshadowed by cult figures such as Kurosawa whose films have been readily available for a long time in Europe. By no means does this make him any less of a great director; on the contrary Ichikawa's films are incredible. Full of emotion and humanistic style not dissimilar to Kurosawa. Kokoro and Alone Across the Pacific have never been easily available to the UK audience, but now thanks to Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series these two highly sought after films can be seen digitally restored on DVD.
    
Kokoro

Adapted from Natsume Soseki's literary classic, Kokoro is a story of betrayal and guilt. The film’s protagonist Nobuchi (Mori Masayuki) is portrayed as a very isolated character despite the two relationships he has in the film: One with his wife Shizu (Aratama Michiyo) and the other with a student called Hioki (Yasui Shoji). Jumping from the present to the past and back again to the present, the story unfolds and shows us the reason for Nobuchi's guilt. From the opening moments of the film we see that Nobuchi and Shizu are having problems within their marriage and Shizu believes that Nobuchi is seeing another woman. Why is there such a lack of communication between the couple and why does Nobuchi prefer to visit his friend Kaji's grave alone? It is apparent that the stability of their relationship has been waning for a long time, so much so that Nobuchi feels even more alone when he is around her. Nobuchi's relationship with Hioki is very different. Hioki looks to Nobuchi as his Sensei (teacher) and role model. Nobuchi shares his personal feelings with Hioki because of the relationship with his wife.
 
The performance given by Mori Masayuki as Nobuchi is perfect. The loneliness and guilt he feels are portrayed in the sincerest of ways. Nothing about his character is forced and the difference in his acting in the past and present sections of the film should not be overlooked as the work of a gifted actor under great direction. As well as the great performances there is the amazing look of the film. Shot with very little camera movement and long still frames it captures a feeling of tension between the characters even in the more light-hearted moments. Combined with the dark score composed by Oki Masao and the slow feel of the film it draws you in and makes you feel personally involved in Nobuchi's world.

 

Alone across the pacific

Based on Kenichi Horie's book of the same name, this is a story of one man's journey from Japan to San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean. Not dissimilar to Kokoro, the protagonist of the film Kenichi Horie (Yujiro Ishihara) deals with the problems of emotional strain and torment. His obsessive need to break free from society lead him to sail across intense seas in a bid to overcome his physical and emotional problems. Although another story of man's isolation this is also one of triumph in overcoming all odds. Very much about breaking free from past struggles and changing ones life this film delivered a strong political message to the society of the new wave era.

Shot beautifully in colour by cinematographer Yamazaki Yoshihiro and scored by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu, the film captures the solitary feeling of Kenichi in his "man against nature" escapade. And as with all of Kon Ichikawa's films the acting is superb and never forced, a huge sense of realism that anyone can relate to.

For anyone that shares an interest in foreign film making or a love for great movies both of these DVDs should be added to your collection. Scheduled for release at the end of Febuary these DVDs have newly improved subtitles, rare theatrical trailers and extensive notes on each of the films. Pick them up because you've finally got the chance to witness one of Japan's greatest directors.

Words > Ryan Harding