Pale flower
(Kawaita hana)
Masahiro Shinoda
- 1964
- Japan
- Police
- 1h36mn
- Original version with French subtitles
- Black and white
New 4K restoration
After three years in jail, yakuza Muraki discovers a changed world in which he can’t find his place, and where his clan has made a pact with the rival gang. As he resumes his duties, with difficulty, in a gambling house he becomes fascinated by Saeko, a mysterious young woman who always loses but keeps on playing...
If Pale Flower remains one of Shinoda’s most famous films, it’s probably because it’s also one of the most beautiful. Between shadow and light, the filmmaker smashes the archetypes of a well established genre to follow an existential path, where a tired hero finds new life force through contact with fleeting youth. Pale Flower is a tight-lipped and magnificent love story, enlaced in Takemitsu's haunted melancholy score, like a mirror of the soul.
Credits
- With : Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Naoki Sugiura, Shin’ichirô Mikami
- Screenplay : Masaru Baba, Masahiro Shinoda
- Photography : Masao Kosugi
- Editing : Yoshi Sugihara
- Music by : Yûji Takahashi, Tôru Takemitsu
- Production : Masayuki Nakajima, Toshio Shimizu, Masao Shirai, Shigeru Wakatsuki
