For Chinese audiences my age, the order of viewing and cognition in 110 years of Japanese cinema can be described as "cyclical". Recalling the first time I saw Ken Takakura on the screen riding on the city street, it is already a faded memory. One day, he was brought into the Toei image of the golden age of Japanese cinema by a lecture by the film historian Mr. Shikata Inuhiko, and suddenly met the able-bodied Ken Takakura, only to find that there was an earlier image of the underworld righteous man, fixed in the hearts of Japanese audiences. And when I just had the opportunity to review The Nakadai Tatsuya in "Cutting the Belly" on the big screen, I looked up and saw his Buddha-figure who came to Beijing to communicate, and he was already a spiritual version of "Lear by the Sea". The more people linger on the edge of the white screen, the more they can produce the trance of time. Therefore, if it were not for the fact that I saw a 4k restored version of Rashomon at the KonishiTen Film Archive on the winter solstice last year, I really can't guarantee that Kyo Machiko, as the heroine, would still be able to recall her face exactly when she died. Although March prepared for Tatsuya Nakadai's interview, I also watched the "Gorgeous Family" that had her role, but this was already the same as her in "Rashomon".
Kyo Machiko
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It is said that there will be new discoveries when the old film is revisited, but with her films, my discoveries are always swirling around it. For example, when I watched "Rashomon", I noticed the ghost witch Atsuko Honma who conveyed her grievances from another world; in "Gorgeous Family", I noticed that the beautiful and strong "she" was next to Tsukigaoka Monroe, who played the role of the wife of the big family who endured humiliation and hatred and was powerless to resist. And other Showa actresses of the same period as hers: Tanaka Atsuyo, Hideko Takayama, Iwashita Shima, etc., I never forgot it when I first met. Now I wonder if this is a revelation, at least in terms of Japanese actress roles, those weak and sad, tough and introverted women can quickly break into my aesthetic territory. Actresses like Kyo Machiko, who at first glance are very charming and then evil, can't digest it for a while, and they are automatically put on the edge. Am I also like the young man Honda in Yukio Mishima's "Spring Snow", because he instinctively perceives the dangers of life here, and chooses to avoid it?
But in any case, these two movies have just been watched, so when I see the news of her death, I can still see her image in my mind. In "Rashomon", she is dressed in a plain pot outfit for a long trip, and the bucket is wrapped in a soft veil to cover her face, revealing only her slender ankles, which is touching. After removing the mask, the passion is fierce, and it is like quickly pushing people to the mouth of the cliff of hell... In "Gorgeous Family", she is beautiful and beautiful, but she shows the fullness of middle-aged carnal desire. It can be seen that even the social director Saf Yamamoto, with Kyo Machiko, still grasped the fierce side of her character's personality. But this is still a little different from the evil charm of the early years.
Stills from Rashomon
Stills from "Gorgeous Family"
What's different? I suddenly realized that she had no sense of existence in my place for a long time, because in the Rashomon era, her makeup on the screen—often painted pink face, cherry mouth, bulging eyebrows and black teeth, and the desire and passion of volcanic eruptions in her body—were not rooted in real life, and she should have appeared on noh dramas, kabuki stages, or like the ghosts of the Middle Ages, and was summoned by storytellers in "Hundred Things" games similar to Japanese folk summer. These classical images of charm, desire, innocence, taking and sacrificing, Kyomachiko acted more realistically, the closer she got to the underworld of Japanese culture. It is conceivable that it can be painted, but it cannot be treated as a real person.
Imagine that the rural female teacher in "Twenty-Four Eyes" played by Hideko Gao, walking off the screen, may be surrounded by a group of children. And Kyo Machiko, even though the male audience is willing to project her desire on the screen, but close to the hell fire, I am afraid that there is a little fear and trembling, right?
Of course, in the Aesthetics of the Japanese, there is a factor in putting out fire for the beautiful moths in this danger. There are often such characters in Junichiro Tanizaki's works. Coincidentally, Kyomachiko's 1949 screen work "Foolish Love" is based on his work. All along, Tanizaki's admiration for her has been overflowing.
"Idiot's Love"
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Kyo Machiko entered Daiei in 1949 and has played many roles in her life, so I will only choose her daiei for ten years here.
Founded in 1942, in the 1950s and 1960s, it was the time when famous directors gathered to concentrate on making works, and it was they who laid the foundation for the rise of Japanese cinema in the world. Kyomachiko, on the other hand, was involved in the works of almost all the famous directors of this period, and the usual chronology shows that 1950 was Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, but at the same time she also took over Yoshimura's "The Tale of Genji" and "The Hypocritical Costume" (both written by Kanehito Niito), followed by "Hell Gate" (1953) by Kennosuke Ikasa, Kenji Mizoguchi's "The Tale of the Rain Moon" (1953), "Yang Guifei" (1955), and finally "Keys" by Ichikawa Kun (1959) and Yasujiro Ozu's Floating Grass (1959) ends.
It can be seen here that with the exception of "Hypocritical Costumes" (the subject of prostitutes), "Floating Grass", and "Keys" (adapted from Junichiro Tanizaki's novel), all other costume dramas are costume dramas, and the prevalence of costume dramas is the rebound of Japanese culture after the end of the film censorship system of the Allied Command.
This invisibility also deepened the image of "hellflower" in Kyomachiko's acting career. The most representative is "The Tale of the Rainy Moon". Kenji Mizoguchi is a director who started out as a new school drama film, and specializes in creating a classical Japanese theatrical atmosphere, and the atmosphere of the film is created by Kazuo Miyagawa, who was in charge of many directors in that period, and the soundtrack Fumio Hayasaka. The toxin-laden flower has bloomed in the shadows of the subtitles at the beginning stage. Kyo Machiko appeared in a shopping street, and the performance was silent, but it already made people shudder when the Japanese chat version of the character came. And when she walked on the edge of the courtyard pool in the dark night and charmed the male protagonist, the kind of beauty that was not like the human world and was poignant to the bone, even more people expected that this beautiful house would instantly become a dangerous situation of the withered tomb.
The Tale of the Rainy Moon
When he saw this, he began to feel cold in his back, and turned to enough sympathy and attention to Tanaka Atsuyo, who was surviving the war with his child. Looking at it now, reflect on yourself that you can't be so persistent. One of Masaki Kobayashi's "Strange Talks" is also similar to its plot, and in the end, they are all strange talk in Japanese culture. No matter how beautiful and frightening Kyo machiko is, it is still a necessary element of the nether world. Can make you fall into this, in fact, it also witnesses the power of the directors and creators.
This is what I realized when I re-watched Kenji Mizoguchi's "Yang Guifei". Before watching this film, left and right are not pleasing to the eye, Yang Guifei is from the stove room? Photographing the court of the Tang Dynasty, how can it be so empty and freehand? The old film is revisited, but the eyes are suddenly calmed by the pictures of the artifacts under the opening subtitles. It was the presence of beauty that I could never have noticed when I was still unaware of the Shosoin Tang Objects. It is said that the props in Kenji Mizoguchi's movie are careful enough, and here he seems to have taken out the treasures at the bottom of the pressure box and used them. Using the existence of matter to construct the reality of an era, I steadily captured a few empty mirrors in the picture, the seemingly empty palace pillars, and then there was a profound meaning like a historical album. The composition of the character scene with the help of the staggered columns and beams is actually a very Japanese way of shooting, which is first based on the discovery of the unique pattern of traditional ancient architecture, where the music played by Yang Guifei and the gorgeous brocade of the courtyard pavilion seemingly randomly paved all reinforce the Tang meaning of the film. There is also the seemingly invisible plucked string music, which is not so much the couple's heartfelt song, but more like the background music when visiting the Shokura-in exhibition. I suddenly felt that with this experience, my heart was enough.
"Yang Guifei"
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Receiving the creation of Japanese aesthetic consciousness by the older generation of Japanese directors, it sometimes has to be said that this refined and formal classical artistic conception is often one of the enjoyments of watching a film. Not only Kenji Mizoguchi, but also Sadayuki Igakasa is one of the most pleasing directors.
Winner of the Grand Prix de Cannes in 1954, Kyomachi plays a Heian Dynasty woman who sacrifices herself to save her husband. This sounds like a role to whitewash her, but the overall brilliant colors of the film and the stunning appearance of the actors in it are undoubtedly more vocal. The brilliant and gorgeous colors can be seen as a picture scroll of the Heian period. The dark courtyard shot with the help of Eastman's color film presents a blue that is different from the real but in line with the tone of the film. As to whether the form of the film has overshadowed the content, this film does have its debatable points. However, it is undoubtedly an outstanding effort by a kabuki actor-turned-director to combine traditional Japanese theater techniques with on-screen imagery. Of course, this also makes Kyo Machiko, who should have had a tragic ending, sigh, and people still remember her enchanting side.
Hell's Gate
Especially in the scene at the beginning: someone in the chaotic court asked who could lead the enemy away for the royal family, but when she lifted the curtain, turned sideways, and rushed forward after a step, a "I can", it was completely an appearance like an opera character. To say more, I was surprised to meet Itsukushima Shrine again in this film. The place I visited at the beginning of this year was exactly the same as in the film decades ago. This validates one of my intuitions: no matter how much Itsukushima Shrine resembles an eternal existence, its beauty actually crosses over from the Heian Dynasty.
Kyo Machiko is also a beauty that the director wants to paint in the picture of peace.
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In this way, it is not that the classical beauty and gorgeous costume will definitely cover up the actor's own sense of existence. The same costume, another Showa actress, Kimi Chiyo, made me feel much more real. At the age of six, KisuiShi Chiyo Ōkyo Played a Woman with a Secret in Kenji Mizoguchi's 1955 costume play The Tale of shinhei. The performances of Chiyo, who are in the Hiragami family and the heart of the Emperor, have different levels of performance. And my favorite is her geisha in Hiroshi Inagaki's Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijōji Temple (1955). Mentioning Miyamoto Musashi's practice with his own charm, that scene that combines charm, generosity and love is played by Toshiro Mifune, who has never understood the style on the screen, and there is a little bit of intimacy in the grace of a woman who is immersed in the world.
In the end, a good performance still needs to let people peek into the heart. But this cannot be said arbitrarily, Kyo Machiko's acting skills do not have this part, but only the costume drama role of this period, and she can not take the breath of life. On the contrary, Yasujiro Ozu, who is most unlikely to work with her, has given her a human role that can be felt and touched. This is the "Floating Grass" that fell at the end of kyochoko Daiei's decade. There are young Wakao Fumiko in the same frame, two "sexy actresses", instead of letting the lust on the screen flood, but let the small town of this mobile theater troupe perform, inside and outside the play, all flowing with the true flavor of life.
Floating Grass
As a member of a folk kabuki troupe, Kyomachiko also performs on stage, but it shows the vivid and exaggerated side of her acting talent. At the same time, in Wakao Fumiko's beautiful dance scene, Ozu Yasujiro also deliberately deconstructs it with the fun of a naughty child picking up coins on stage. Ozu, who pays attention to the world' situation, does not want to make realistic dramas like Sadasuke Iekasa and Kenji Mizoguchi, and make realistic dramas into operas.
However, the props, mirrors and color use in the film have Ozu-style ingenuity. For example, in the scene where Kyo Machiko and her lover boss fight in the rain, there is a specially placed red umbrella in the streets and alleys of the black and white rain curtain. In the tavern, the boss lady played by Haruko Sugimura and the old man of the troupe are good and nagging, and each other's clothing and hand-held fans also echo the colors. It's comforting and finishing. Obviously the troupe can not continue to operate, their respective birds and beasts scattered, the boss is also exposed by the lover of the feelings of the old bottom, want to take advantage of this to stay in the old family, but know that their son is not happy. Fate is in the balance, and the small station that needs to decide the fate needs to give the answer. The boss played by Nakamura Yanjiro (also a Kabuki actor), and the lover played by Kyomachiko, who originally sat at a distance, seemed to be iron-hearted and did not want to pay attention to the lover, but when he smoked, he looked left and right, and he could not find a lighter on his body. At this time, Kyo Machiko got up and went forward, found a match to light a cigarette for him, and burned one after another, knowing that it was interesting and well-behaved, and it was a play that people in the rivers and lakes floated in the rivers and lakes.
Stills from Floating Grass
Get rid of "Hypocritical Costume" that I haven't seen so far, this is probably the most human pyrotechnic character in kyomachiko's ten years. With more weight in such a scene, I think her sense of existence will definitely strengthen in my heart. It is true that the beauty of Kyo Machiko does not belong to the kind of "Sayonara, the most delicate and shy of the water lotus flower without a cool breeze" under Xu Zhimo's poem, and naturally not the kind of "gracefully achieving the obligation of suppleness to obtain love" as Koizumi Yakumo said, but looking back, these two roles are not difficult for most Japanese actresses to perform. The difficult thing is that it is so largely between the flower of hell and the floating grass of the world, one moment it is too fierce and evil to dare to get close, the next moment it is tore down the mahjong table, and it is with you and the cards, the kind of acting skills that are stalking with life.
Following this clue and watching the movie again, I believe that I can still find a bunch of actresses, which can be classified as the "fierce horn class" spectrum on the screen. This, of course, is another big lesson. In any case, Kyoko, who was born in 1924, has gone through Taisho, Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa. As a kind of commemorative review, her ten years of major screenings are also the period when Japanese films show the world why They are the power of Japanese films. Those images, which have become classics, can withstand being re-watched again and again. They are like treasure boxes lined with brocade under the credits in Theoga Sadayuki Igasasa films, shining every time they are opened.
Text | Sun Xiaoning
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