Kagero-za

Kagero-za
『陽炎座』

Imported 35mm Print. Playwright Matsuzaki (Yusaku Matsuda) finds his fate caught in between the lives of two strange women—one whose enigmatic persona evinces a presence beyond this mortal coil; another whispered to be a European in disguise, her blue eyes and golden hair appearing only under moonlight. Roped into fulfilling a role he’s seemingly meant to play, the dramaturge becomes beleaguered when he’s invited to a rendezvous that suggests a double-suicide—one in which he may very well be an unwilling participant. Suzuki’s head-spinning follow-up to his independent comeback Zigeunerweisen renders a vividly hedonistic and perverse depiction of the taisho period bordering on nightmare. Unfettered by studio constraints, Suzuki’s disorienting adaptation of Kyoka Izumi’s ghost story obscures reality in its hazy meandering, ambiguous and ghostly performances, and disparate sense of time and space—offering a forbidden vision of the past.

Dir. Seijun Suzuki, 1981, 139 min., 35mm, Color. With Yusaku Matsuda, Michiyo Okusu, Katsuo Nakamura, Yoshio Harada, Mariko Kaga.

Tickets
$15 General Admission / $10 Members

Series Pass
Purchase tickets for all films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket.

Part of the Seijun Suzuki Centennial
February 3—11, 2023

Celebrating 100 years of iconoclast director Seijun Suzuki (1923-2017), a singular force in Japanese cinema whose radical stylistic vision and unpredictable narratives shaped the B-movie genre, Japanese cinephilia and the political New Left, Japan Society and The Japan Foundation present a selection of six films from across the filmmaker’s nearly 60-film body of work, all on imported 35mm prints straight from Japan. Covering ground from his earliest yakuza feature (Satan’s Town) to his unbridled return to studio filmmaking after being blacklisted for 10 years (A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness) and his subsequent independent success (Kagero-za), this special series offers a rare glimpse into the core of Suzuki’s creative genius.

Series guest programmed by William Carroll, Assistant Professor of Modern Japanese Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta. Co-presented by The Japan Foundation.

---

Image: Kagero-za © 1981 presented by LittleMore Co., Ltd.

Co-presented by the Japan Foundation.


Special Thanks to William Carroll; Shun Inoue and Maya Sato (Japan Foundation).

Japan Society programs are made possible by leadership support from Booth Ferris Foundation and Shiseido Americas. Film programs are generously supported by ORIX Corporation USA, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and endowment support from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, David Toberisky, Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide, Geoff and Fumi Matters, Laurel Gonsalves, and David S. Howe. Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the exclusive Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film.