Gonza the spearman
(Yari no Gonza)
Masahiro Shinoda
- 1986
- Japan
- Drama
- 2h06mn
- Original version with French subtitles
- Color
French premiere
New 4K restoration
Gonza is already engaged. But to learn the secrets of the tea ceremony in which he partakes, he promises to marry the daughter of the woman who holds these secrets... and so constructs his own demise.
After Double Suicide, Shinoda again adapts Chikamatsu Monzaemon, this time abandoning the distancing found in his previous venture. It’s the dramatic story of a seducer caught at his own game, and the portrait of a man of arms, at the end of the samouraï era, when weapons have become just scenic accessories...and where emotions must remain untold. Real theater, Shinoda seems to say, is the one imposed by society upon individuals. The tragic aspect in this magnificent film flows from this paradox: from now on, a tea ceremony can turn out to be more deadly than the greatest of battles. Bitterly ironic, Shinoda distills his violence in a casket of delicacy.
Credits
- With : Hiromi Gô, Shima Iwashita, Shôhei Hino, Misako Tanaka, Haruko Katô
- Screenplay : Taeko Tomioka
- Photography : Kazuo Miyagawa
- Editing : Sachiko Yamaji
- Music by : Tôru Takemitsu
- Production : Kiyoshi Iwashita, Masayuki Motomochi, Masatake Wakita
