Another fine Kaneto Shindo screenplay was the basis for this rarely screened drama, described by Donald Richie as “a complete unmasking of the world of the traditional Japanese dance”. Unfolding between World War II and the postwar present, it recounts the rivalry of two dancers determined to “look back at the world”.
Two outstanding postwar actresses of slightly different generations aptly personify mentor and pupil. Machiko Kyo, seen elsewhere in this retrospective in Itsuwareru seiso, was celebrated for her assertiveness and allure; she had also acted for Yoshimura in his adaptation of the Heianera prose epic, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, 1951) and in his Yoru no cho (Night Butterflies, 1957), about bar hostesses in Tokyo’s Ginza district. She had already starred opposite Ayako Wakao (1933) in Mizoguchi’s last film, Akasen chitai (Street of Shame, 1956). Wakao personified a new type of Japanese femininity, rebellious and insistently modern. Having made a name for herself as the dissident geisha chafing at the restrictions of her profession, in Mizoguchi’s Gion bayashi (Gion Festival Music, 1953), she went on to become the face of Yasuzo Masumura’s fresh, stylish, European-influenced cinema. Here, the different star personae of the two actresses tellingly bring to life the rivalry between the two dancers. For the “Kinema Junpo” reviewer, the film was “not sentimental but amoral, as it is full of people who choose the best way for their own benefit only, not for the benefit of others.” Shindo himself admitted to disliking the atmosphere of Japanese dance, and declared that his priorities lay elsewhere: “What I’m interested in are money, power, bluffing, lewdness, and naked human statues that dance with excitement.”

Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström