Crank, the student cinéphile society at UCLA, has organized a tribute screening in homage to the late, lamented director ICHIKAWA Kon. It features all the themes so near and dear to the younger set, like aging and impotence. Actually, I am told that the director IWAI Shunji will be on hand, for a Q & A, moderated by the organizers and the extremely savvy and well-informed Sachiko Mizuno.
In the February 2008 obit, the New York Times defers to the Globe and Mail to describe Ichikawa’s accomplishments at the time of the big retrospective in Toronto. I can confirm that this is how people talked about him, as I worked on both the TO Cinémathèque catalog, and on the lush coffee-table book that accompanied the series:
The Globe and Mail, the Canadian newspaper, called him in 2001 “the last living link between the golden age of Japanese cinema, the spunky New Wave that followed and contemporary Japanese film.”
His films included one narrated by a suicidal cat, “I Am a Cat” (1975), and “An Actor’s Revenge” (1963), in which a Kabuki female impersonator avenges the death of his parents.
The students programmed the film, and will provide program notes and introduction. The film features the awesome MACHIKO Kyô as the sultry wife.
The screenplay was adapted from Tanizaki Jun’ichirô’s dishy diary novel. Here is a synopsis of the film:
Odd Obsession (1959, 96 min): Director Kon Ichikawa’s adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki’s KAGI is a black comedy reminiscent of the films of Luis Buñuel. Ganjiro Nakamura stars as Mr. Kenmochi, an aged Japanese art critic whose increasing impotence has led him to take injections to maintain his sex life. However, even this remedy is now failing him, and, hoping to use jealousy to achieve arousal, he decides to instigate a relationship between his wife, Ikuko (Machiko Kyô), and the attractive younger Dr. Kimura (Tatsuya Nakadai). After Kenmochi shows the doctor nude photos of his wife as well as employing other expedients, the two begin a passionate affair, much to the disappointment of Toshiko (Junko Kano), Kenmochi’s daughter, who has a crush on the doctor. Ichikawa’s fascinating film is photographed by the estimable Kazuo Miyagawa (KAGEMUSHA, YOJIMBO, and RASHOMON) and is exceptionally well acted, particularly by Kyô as the perverse Ikuko.
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