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| Shotaro Hanayagi and Kakuko Mori in The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum |
Cast: Shotaro Hanayagi, Kakuko Mori, Kokichi Takada, Gonjuro Kawarzaki II, Tokusaburo Arashi VI, Hideo Nakagawa, Yoko Umemura, Ryotaro Kawanami, Yoshiaki Hanyagi, Kinnosuke Takamatsu, Nobuko Fushimi, Benkei Shiganoya. Screenplay: Matsutaro Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda, based on a story by Shofu Muramatsu. Cinematography: Yozo Fuji, Minoru Miki. Production design: Hiroshi Mizutani. Film editing: Koshi Kawahigashi. Music: Shiro Fukai.
Kenji Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum provides a glimpse into the world of the kabuki theater through the life of an aspiring actor, Kikusone (Shotaro Hanayagi) and his companion Otoku (Kakuko Mori). When the two fall in love, Otoku, who was nurse to Kiku's much younger brother, is expelled from the household headed by his father, a famous actor. Kiku breaks with the family and sets out to prove himself on his own. The problem is, he's not a very good actor, and only when he's reunited with Otoku, who is the only person who will give him helpful advice at getting better, does he begin to make it in the profession. But not after much suffering, during which Otoku develops consumption. It's a familiar tale, reminiscent of the story of Marguerite Gautier (or Violetta Valéry, if you know Verdi's La Traviata) in adaptations of The Lady of the Camellias by Dumas fils. Mizoguchi tells it well with his characteristic long takes and avoidance of close-ups, and it's distinguished by his usual sympathetic treatment of women. It's generally regarded as an important precursor to the director's postwar triumphs, but it will try the patience of those for whom kabuki remains an inscrutable art form, and I found myself getting restless at the protracted treatment of Otoku's final moments.
