"The Story of the Floating Algae" ( Jap. 浮 草 物語 , Ukikusa monogatari ; English The film won the Kinema Jumpo magazine award for best film. In 1959, Ozu took a color remake of this work - the painting “ Floating Algae ”.
The story of swimming algae | |
---|---|
Jap. 浮 草 物語 ( Ukikusa monogatari ) English A Story of Floating Weeds | |
Genre | drama |
Producer | Yasujiro Ozu |
Producer | |
Author script | Tadao Ikeda Yasujiro Ozu |
In the main cast | Takeshi Sakamoto Choko Iida |
Operator | Hideo Shigehara |
Film company | " Sistiku " |
Duration | 87 min. |
A country | Japan |
Tongue | silent film Japanese (Intertitles) |
Year | 1934 |
IMDb |
Content
Story
A group of stray actors arrives on tour in a quiet provincial town. Kihati, the head of the troupe, declaring that he should visit his local benefactor, goes to Otsune, a woman who for many years alone has raised their common son. Shinkee, already a student, does not even suspect who the carefree uncle is, who occasionally visits their home. Ochiqa, one of the actors of the troupe, recognizes Kihati's secret, and from jealousy wants to tell everything to Sinkiti. After this fails, she encourages her younger companion Otoki to seduce the young man. She successfully implements the plan, but in the course of its implementation she herself falls in love with Shinkiti ...
Cast
- Takeshi Sakamoto - Kihati
- Choko Iida - Otsune
- Koji Mitsui - Shinkiti
- Rieko Yagumo - Otaka
- Yoshiko Tsubouti - Otoki
- Tomio Aoki - Tomibo
- Reiko Tani - Tomibo's father
About the film
The film was shot from September to November 1934 and was released on Tokyo cinema screens on November 23 of the same year [1] . Only the silent version of the tape has been preserved, although initially there was also an audio version. This was the second time after the not-preserved film “See you again” ( 1932 , Mata au hi made ), when Ozu also made sound versions of his silent pictures. The film also included the song “Journey to the drizzling rain” (“Siguratabi”), probably to make the picture more commercially attractive [2] . The first fully preserved sound film of the master is “ The Only Son ” ( 1936 ).
In “Stories about swimming algae” again, as in the 1933 film “ Caprice ”, the main character is Kihati, but, as the director himself explains, this is not necessarily the same person, they have only similarity of character traits [2] . This time Kihati is a wandering actor. For the first time in Ozu's films, the hero leaves Tokyo and leads a wandering life, abandoning his permanent place of residence, family, or intentions to make it. And even a family substitute (in this case, a troupe of actors), in the end, also falls apart. Kihati, the hero of “Caprice”, left Tokyo, but still, before reaching the destination, he returned, drawn by the force of gravity. Kihati in "Stories on the floating algae" was created by Ozu based on the American film directed by George Fitzmoris "Touted" ( 1928 , The Barker ), a melodrama that was a success with Japanese moviegoers [3] . Compared with all the other works of Ozu, this film has a strong melodramatic influence. The clash in the end between Kihati and his son Shinkiti was taken by the director from the play by Japanese prose writer Kan Kikuchi “The Return of the Father” [2] .
Kihati, like many other heroes of the band, wears a kimono throughout the entire film, which is not typical of Ozu's early films. In his previous tapes, the heroes not only lived in Tokyo, but also wore Western clothes. The film was censored. After a rendezvous with Shinkity Otoki, coming home, removes socks ( tabi ). It was considered too erotic for those times [2] .
It is from this, quite surprising in its form, the film begins to manifest itself in the works of the master of what will be called the "Odzu style". This can be seen from the very beginning - from the credits: for the first time, hieroglyphs here are filed against the background of sacking, which later became common in his tapes. Here the low setting of the camera is also used (later on, this will also be regular with the maestro), the plot proceeds slowly, but with good progress, some comic moments are added in the dramatic narrative. Much in common with his later films, only the camera is more mobile here.
This is a film that was well received. Although some people rank him in my “Kihati series”, I disagree with this, because heroes by the name of Kihati, as a rule, have only common features. At that time, everyone in my environment worked with sound, while I hung on silent movies. However, since 1932, for three years in a row, my dumb ones, including this picture, have been selected as the best films by the Kinema Junpo magazine. However, I should not have been lucky the next year.
Notes
Links
- The Story of Swimming Algae (English) on the Internet Movie Database
- The story of floating algae (eng.) On the site allmovie