“White Threads of a Waterfall” ( Japanese 滝 の 白 糸 Taki no shiraito , Eng. The Water Magician ) is a silent film by Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi , released on June 1, 1933 . The film is based on the mature and courageous novel Kyoki Izumi , which takes place in the 19th century .
| White threads of a waterfall | |
|---|---|
| Japanese 滝 の 白 糸 ( Taki no shiraito ) English The water magician | |
 | |
| Genre | drama |
| Producer | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| Producer | Takako Irie Yoshizo Mogi Takejiro Tsunoda |
| Author script | Yasunaga Higashibojo Shinji Masuda Kannosuke tateoka Nariharu Sugano |
| In the main cast | Takako Irie Tokihiko Okada |
| Operator | Minoru Miki |
| Film company | Rie production Shinko uzumasa |
| Duration | 110 minutes |
| A country |  Japan |
| Tongue | silent movie Japanese (" Bansy " - the narrator comments) |
| Year | 1933 |
| IMDb | ID 0024641 |
Content
Story
Tomo Mizushima is a young independent woman who performs in a theater booth under the pseudonym Taki no Shiraito, juggling water jets. One day she meets Kinya Murakoshi, a poor coachman, and falls in love with him. The young man dreams of going to Tokyo , studying law to become a lawyer, but for this he has no money. Taki no Shiraito wants to sponsor his studies by offering him money and his love. He promises not to be in debt and leaves for Tokyo. Two years pass, Taki no Shiraito, who regularly sent money to the guy, begins financial difficulties. In order to send money to her lover once again, she is forced to take it from a money-lender who deceives her, and when the girl leaves his house, robbers warned by him will already be waiting for her outside. Money is taken from the poor girl by force, and she, in a fit of anger, returns to the house to the usurer and stabs him with a knife. During the trial of Taki no Shiraito, one of the judges is Kinya Murakoshi, who has already completed his studies. Despite the fact that he owes his career to her, he adheres to the law and condemns her to death. Then, tormented by regrets, he commits suicide.
Cast
- Takako Irie - Tomo Mizushima ( Taki no Shiraito )
- Tokihiko Okada - Kinya Murakoshi
- Itiro Sugai - Iwabuchi
- Hirohisa Murata - Minami
- Bontaro Miyake - Shinzo
- Kumeko Urabe - Ogin
- Suzuko Taki - Nadeshiko
- Koji Oizumi - Gonji
- Zoe Ohara - Tanjiro
- Etsuji Oki - the old prosecutor
- Nobuo Kosaka - Detective
About the movie
One of the few silent films of the director who survived and survived to the present day. Despite the tragic plot, “White Threads of the Waterfall” is one of the most magical and visually stunning films of Mizoguchi [1] . The film also wins in many respects thanks to the matchless game [1] of Japanese movie stars of those years, Takako Irie , who later worked with Akira Kurosawa . Irie was one of the most sought-after actresses of her time in the Japanese film industry. Filmmakers of the Golden Era, such as Tom Utida and Minoru Murata, fought to shoot it in their films [1] , but in 1933 Irie used her power and influence to organize her own film company Irie Productions, one of the first independent production company in the history of Japanese cinema. "White Threads of the Waterfall" was the first film of this company [1] .
The actor Tokihiko Okada looked a little faded against the background of Irie, also the number one star in those years in Japanese cinema, this will be his last but one job, because he will not live a year after the premiere of this film, having died from tuberculosis at the age of twenty-nine years [2] .
... the plot, taken from the mature and courageous novel Kyoki Izumi, became for the outstanding Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi in the first period of his work only an occasion to tell a poetic love story, in which a peculiar “image music” is much more important than anyone else ups and downs. The cinematographer’s gift consists precisely in collecting bit by bit the кино cinema ’air’, catching its air currents, sensing the call of a place that almost asks for its permanent imprint on the film. It is rarely possible to fleetingly return to the homeland of cinema, which, in fact, is wherever you can put a camera and feel the cinema genicity of the most ordinary things and phenomena. Cinema is nothing more than the discovery of the visible poetry of all that exists and the transmission of its secret beauty in a series of changing frames.
The film is voiced by a Bansy narrator who existed during the silent movie era in Japan . The narrator, standing next to the screen in the auditorium (in this case, behind the scenes), in the theatrical tradition, not only read dialogs, but also commented on what was happening on the screen.
Premieres
- - The national premiere of the film took place on March 14, 1930 [4] .
- - first introduced to Portuguese moviegoers in November 1976 with the support of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian [4] .
- - first shown to the Russian audience on October 10, 2002 as part of a retrospective of Kenji Mizoguchi films at the Moscow Museum of Cinema [5] .
Awards and nominations
Kinem Jumpo Magazine Award (1934)
- Nominated for an award for the best film of 1933, however, according to the results of the voting, he took the 2nd place, losing to the film “ Caprice ” by Yasujiro Ozu [6] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 shinsedai.ca (eng.) Archived on May 18, 2014.
- ↑ carolinadaisuki.org (English) Archived on May 18, 2014.
- ↑ Sergey Kudryavtsev , “3500. Book of film reviews. In 2 volumes ”, M .: - Printing House, 2008.
- ↑ 1 2 White Threads of a Waterfall (1933) —Release Info on the IMDb website
- ↑ Retrospective of films at the Museum of Cinema on the site “Museums of Russia” (Russian)
- ↑ Kinema Junpo Top YBY on Rinkworks.com
Links
- The White Threads of the Waterfall on the Internet Movie Database
- White threads of a waterfall (English) on the site allmovie
Literature
- Sergey Kudryavtsev , “3500. Book of film reviews. In 2 volumes ”, Moscow: - Printing House, 2008, ISBN 978-5-9901318-1-1 , ISBN 978-5-9901318-3-5