Nominees: Doctor Zhivago, Pierrot le Fou, The Hill, Chimes at Midnight, Red Beard, Simon of the Desert, The Shop on Main Street, Repulsion, Le Bonheur, Rapture, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Tokyo Olympiad
Oscars pick: The Sound of Music
Nominees: Darling, Doctor Zhivago, Ship of Fools, A Thousand Clowns
I must admit, Seijun Suzuki's over-stylized and comic booky flicks have not been my cup of tea. They aren't bad, just nothing I was over the moon for. And his knack for making “incomprehensible films” actually got him fired from Nikkatsu Studios. So, to say this movie blindsided me would be an understatement - Prostitute is more spiritual and cerebral, and less incomprehensible than anything I'd seen from the director. It's still visually stylized and audacious, but you now find these traits supported by a story that calls to mind Mizoguchi and Kobayashi. In fact, I was actually in the midst of reading Stephen Prince's book on Kobayashi when I caught Seijun's film - and its detailed examinations on imperial codes of honor, the nature of obedience, and how that fosters the brutality, and attitudes of soldiers seen in his pictures, actually added additional weight and context to Prostitute.*
The story concerns the title character, Harumi (Yumiko Nogawa) who works at a military outpost during the Sino-Japanese war as a “comfort girl”. Here she comes in contact with the cruel and abusive Lt. Narita (Isao Tamagawa) and his meek adjutant, Mikami (Tamio Kawachi) - who she originally plans to use, but falls in love with instead. Mikami later brings shame to his unit when he (with Harumi) is captured by the enemy.
As stated in the Criterion interview, Suzuki sought to show not only the barbarity but the "ludicrousness of war" - and he certainly succeeds in that quest. What also sets this apart from Kobayashi and even Mizoguchi (SPOILER ALERT!) is that their's no comeuppance for Narita. While the other directors could be bleak, they'd give you a few shafts of light at the end (Sansho), or show the monster defeated and left to die in shit (The Human Condition) - but none of that happens here, the assholes live to reclaim their so-called 'honor', which sits on a foundation of lies - but no matter, to their minds they've fixed the problem. As for our lovers, there is no hope. He is destroyed by blind obedience to his country and the Emperor, she by her obsessive love for him.**
The film looks eye-popping incredible. Swirling dust storms and desolate landscapes add mood. The way the camera frames Mikami when he turns to silently look at his executioner, or the bit when Harumi runs through a war zone, lit by explosions that surround her. Later, when she and Mikami are united in a trench, there's a moment of peace, before soldiers suddenly leap across the trench above them. Equally unforgettable are the stunning dream sequences. Scene after scene this picture knocks your socks off.
I wasn't expecting to find my movie of the year when I pushed play at Criterion's streaming site, not from this director. But his unique blending of style and substance carries the stroke of genius. In my opinion, it's Suzuki's finest hour.
Oscar? While I liked 2 of their nominees (Doctor Zhivago, Ship of Fools), I wasn't so enamored with the film the Academy selected as the years best - the sappy, manipulative Sound of Music. Still, it's an institution, beloved by many - so I can't really call it a blunder.
The Academy left out a couple of great ones, among them, Orson Welles’ Chimes at Midnight, which was made with no budget but still is considered one of the director's finest. Welles is the perfect Falstaff and as a director he is still the master of the tracking shot, deep focus shots and can compose a scene like no other, e.g. the great battle which had to be carefully framed and staged, using quick edits to make his mere 100 armed extras seem an even larger force.
I also liked the intense wartime prison story, The Hill, which features Sean Connery at his best. Roman Polanski's Repulsion, which is anchored by an unnerving performance from Catherine Deneuve... despite her voice being dubbed I named her my top actress. And my supporting actress, Silvia Pinal, was a funny, sexy Satan in Buñuel's Simon of the Desert.
* The Story of a Prostitute is an adaptation of a Taijiro Tamura novel, which was previously filmed as Escape at Dawn (scripted by Akira Kurosawa) and released in 1950. I've not seen that version, but from what I've read, it's more romantic in tone.
** Critic David Chute equates her need, to a drowning person clinging to a life-preserver. And that's the perfect way to describe it.
Honorable Mentions:
Richard Burton, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold * Omar Sharif, Doctor Zhivago * Terence Stamp, The Collector * Oskar Werner, Ship of Fools * Rod Steiger, The Pawnbroker * Sidney Poitier, The Slender Thread and A Patch of Blue * Mikuni Rentarô, Kiga kaikyô * Soumitra Chatterjee, The Coward
Honorable Mentions:
Julie Christie, Dr. Zhivago & Darling * Jutta Hoffmann, Karla * Ida Kaminska, Shop on Main Street * Samantha Eggar, The Collector * Anna Karina, Pierrot le Fou * Stefania Sandrelli, I Knew Her Well * Anne Bancroft, Slender Thread * Madhabi Mukherjee, The Coward * Hayley Mills, Sky West and Crooked * Sachiko Hidari, Kiga kaikyô * Elizabeth Hartman, A Patch of Blue * Yumiko Nogawa, TSoaP
