Kanto Wanderer
Alternate title(s): Kanto Vagabonds
Foreign Title: Kanto mushuku
Date: January 01, 1963 to February 01, 1964
Dates Note: 1963
Country of Origin:
Japan
Place of Origin: Japan
Languages:
Japanese
Color: Color
Silent: No
Based On: A story by Taiko Hirabayashi
Additional Info:
Curator Notes
Film Series/Exhibition Title:
The Films of Seijun SuzukiDescription:
Based on a book by Taiko Hirabayashi, one of Japan’s most famous female novelists, Kanto Wanderer puts a Suzukian spin on the classic yakuza movie conflict between duty and humanity. Akira Kobayashi plays a fearsome yakuza bodyguard, torn between defending his boss against a rival gang leader and his obsession with Tatsuko, a femme fatale who reappears from his past. Suzuki uses this traditional story to experiment with color and to indulge his interest in Kabuki theater techniques and effects, most notably in the stunning final battle, in which the scenery falls away to reveal a field of pure blood red.
Film Series/Exhibition Title:
Suzuki Returns!Description:
Suzuki called Kanto Wanderer "a straightforward yakuza film and nothing more," though even he admitted that it "contains 'ideas.'" But "idea" is an action word in this film, expressed in a breathtaking use of color, movement, and abrupt histrionics that the important critic Tadao Sato compared to Brecht. Moody matinee idol Akira Kobayashi, decked out in elaborate upper-body tatoos, a sword scar across one cheek, plays a gambling hall bouncer who renounces the gangster's code of honor, which forbids romance, for the love of a professional woman gambler. It's a classic conflict between giri (duty) and ninjo (humanity), in a script based on Taiko Hirabayashi (1905-1972), an important Japanese writer. But Suzuki's dazzling play with visual elements eclipses plot, raising obsession to the level of narrative.
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