Three Films By Hiroshi Teshigahara (1964)

A Stunning Collection. Woman in the Dunes finally on Criterion

Hiroshi Teshigahara and Kobo Abe are right up there with Scorsese and Schrader. Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another are two of my favorite films, they are so mysterious and shocking. Thank you CRITERION COLLECTION. August 31, 2008

THE THREE WINS

I have put in as title, the 'three wins', the meaning being Teshigahara, Takemitsu, Kobo Abe. Three intelligent and sensitive men, one, Toru Takemitsu, who I met and talked with in Paris during the early l970's. This box set comes with the three films, a documentary 'Teshigara and Abe' and a booklet witten on the movies themselves and those involved in making what one might call avant garde in many ways for that time with what they appear to say holding true for today. The 60-70's where turbulent times in France and Japan even if not overtly shown, feelings would come out on the skin like film, a sore that would not go away. Why are you doing what you are doing...and is not this what you are doing? The three films put these questions in a novel interesting format and are completely relevant for today. One is not taking a chance obtaining this box set, they may well be challenged but that never hurt anyone.....only when enough people get together with the same feelings and thoughts as those who made these films, only then might something take place. But the films show how easily and dangerous complacency and repetion with reward on a Pavlovian scale can become.....so beware but not afraid..look and listen with all senses wide open = learn. Deitre Wolff August 9, 2008

Three Films by Teshigahara Hiroshi

Pitfall (1962)

Pitfall opens with a miner along with his young son and a friend fleeing a miner camp at night. With their fear of being caught and great caution when near lights, the trio seem to be more a group of prisoners instead of a couple of poor laborers and a child. However, their being prisoners are not too far from the truth because if they are caught they would be dragged back to the mines because of the nature of their contracts which they most likely were unable to read. The trio makes their way to work for a farmer, but leave soon to avoid deserter hunters and eventually arrive at another dilapidated mining camp. It is a vicious circle from which the miners are surely unable to escape because of their poverty and lack of education.

At the new mining camp, the miner is told that someone is interested in giving him a job, so he and his son make their way to a mining village; however, upon arrival they discover the mining village to be abandoned with the only resident being the candy shop owner. After his son attempts to steal a piece of candy, the miner chases him only to find himself pursued by a man dressed in a white suit. Without uttering a word, the man in white draws a knife and violently stabs the miner three times and kills him. Noticing that the candy store owner saw the murder, the man in white pays her off and instructs her how to lie to the police. It would seem this would be the end of the miner's story, but his restless soul rises and he is determined to find out why he was murdered, but what can a soul who cannot be heard, seen, or move matter really do?

Pitfall can be read as a critique of rising capitalism in Japan during the 1960s when the haves gained more and more while the dirt poor were becoming poorer and unable to match the rapid escalation of Japan's economy. The miner, poor and destitute and only looking for work, gets caught up in a scheme which unbeknownst to him will cost him his life. Is his death mourned? Is he even thought of after he dies? No, because he is completely expendable and his death furthers big business. However, big business is not the only thing that falls under the canopy of critique in Teshigahara's film because the pettiness and internal fighting of worker unions also come to the fore. Another masterpiece for the Teshigahara Hiroshi and Japanese novelist Abe Kobo, Pitfall is not to be missed by fans of 1960s Japanese cinema.

Woman of the Dunes (1964)

I was first exposed to the literary works of Abe Kobo back in 2002 when I picked up and read a tattered copy of his novel Woman of the Dunes. I enjoyed the novel, but at the time my brain was so pickled in the works of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana that I did fully appreciate Abe's words. During the spring semester of 2003 I took a class called Visual Culture in Modern Japan and Woman of the Dunes was the final novel that we read. After discussing the book, our teacher had us watch the film adaptation of Abe's novel, and by seeing what the character Junpei experiences, I was able to sympathize with him greater than I had when I read the novel.

In order to escape his mundane life in Tokyo, the salaryman Niki Junpei travels to a small seaside village to collect insects. Engrossed in his hobby Niki accidentally misses the last bus. In order to aid their visitor, the villagers suggest that Niki stay the night in one of their homes. Liking the idea of staying in a local's home and tasting the local cuisine, Junpei readily agrees to the proposal. Junpei is taken to house situated in a sandpit and there he meets a woman who dutifully prepares him dinner. Her home lacks not only electricity and water, but it is also quite ramshackle as well. The woman informs Junpei that the sand causes the wood to rot because of its moisture. Junpei scoffs at the woman, stating that sand is dry not moist. To Junpei's befuddlement, the woman goes outside to shovel sand which is then taken away by the villagers. After asking her how often she performs this work, she informs him that she does it every night.

When Junpei awakens in the morning, he is startled to see the slumbering naked figure of the woman nearby. The woman is completely naked with only some cloth covering her face. Sand clings to the rest of her body. Not wanting to wake her, Junpei tries to leave quietly, but the rope ladder is gone. He is stuck there with the woman inside that sandy hole.

Woman of the Dunes is a fascinating film and is considered to be Teshigahara Hiroshi's finest work. One can feel Junpei's desperation when he struggles to find a way to escape the sandpit's crumbling sides. Also, Woman of the Dunes is a good example of a film that can be very erotic without showing naughty bits. There are a couple of scenes within the film that are quite stirring. One depicting Junpei washing sand from the woman's back and another in which the woman bathes Junpei.

The Face of Another (1966)

We all wear masks. In or day to day interactions we all put on different masks as we come in contact with others and along with these masks, our personalities can change as well. However, these masks are beneath the skin and our fleshy visages are what others see and often judge. Yet, what if the flesh was disfigured in some way? How would the personality change? This is the situation that Mr. Okuyama faces in Teshigahara Hiroshi's 1966 film The Face of Another which is based on the Abe Kobo novel of the same name.

A businessman who is quite confident in his abilities, Okuyama had his face horribly burned and disfigured in a lab accident. Now without a face, Okuyama's venom and hatred come to the surface when he becomes the object of people's stares. Hating his situation, he goes to a psychiatrist who specializes in the creation of artificial but incredibly lifelike body parts. As the psychiatrist explains, he is there to fill in the gaps of people's inferiority complexes. The psychiatrist is reluctant at first to create a mask for Okuyama because he is worried that Okuyama will use it for more than just reentering the social world, but the disfigured man is able to convince him, and a mask is made, a handsome, lifelike mask that will allow Okuyama not only to reenter society, but to make himself into a completely new being, one who can seek revenge on those who scorned him because of his disfigurement.

Of the Teshigahara films that I have viewed, Woman in the Dunes, The Pitfall, Summer Soldiers, and Rikyu, The Face of Another has the darkest tone and it is quite an interesting take on identity and how in some ways identity in some ways is based upon outer appearances than what is in the heart and the mind. It also asks the question about what one would do if given the opportunity like Okuyama, and one wonders how society and human personalities themselves would be changed by such a situation. June 18, 2008

I wanted more - but five stars anyway

What more could I want? 'The Ruined Map' (also written by Kobo Abe) and the short 'José Torres' (scored by Takemitsu) would have completed this nicely - and maybe a bit more material on the Sogetsu school and Teshigahara's later film work. But, considering what we get with this set, that's probably just greed. The films are, of course, outstanding - especially the celebrated 'Woman in the Dunes' and the previously hard to find and terribly underrated 'The Face of Another.' Both look better here than I've ever seen them, and 'Woman' is the longer Japanese cut. 'Face' may finally get some of the attention it has always deserved with this release.

These should really be seen on a huge screen to be fully appreciated, but, barring that, this is an excellent presentation, with good supplements - the short 'Ikebana' being the best, where we see Teshigahara's father, a formidable figure himself in the world of Japanese arts, in action. (It would have been nice to see these shorts restored, too, but I suppose we're lucky to have them at all.)

I don't want to talk about the films themselves, except to say that Teshigahara was one of the great talents to ever run celluloid through a camera. His output was small, but the quality of the body of work he left behind is startling. It helps, of course, if your collaborators are first rate artists, as is the case here. These are resonant, intellectually provocative, dramatically compelling and visually stunning films. If you haven't seen them, and have any interest at all in cinema as a major art form, don't waste another minute.

Japan's contributions to film art in this period have often been overshadowed by the developments in European cinema, but there is a largely undiscovered cache of important and fascinating work from directors who are easily the equals of their occidental counterparts. Now I want to see Nagisa Oshima and Susumu Hani get the Criterion treatment. (The forgotten status of these two is criminal - Oshima, especially, deserving the stature of a major figure in the history of cinema, who, even in Japan, is more well known today as a television personality than a filmmaker. Outside of Japan he has footnote status as "the Japanese Godard" - an infuriating label, given the breadth and inventiveness of his output. A real shame, since his work is as important as any other master's.)

It is worth taking a moment to recognize the brilliance of Kobo Abe. Watching 'Face' last night for the first time in years, I was struck by the evocative quality of some of the writing and character work. (But one is struck, too, reading his novels - which are also worth tracking down.) I can easily imagine a Hollywood version of this story, and the tactile and emotional elements that would be immediately left out - the very qualities that anchor this bizarre vision and lend it a power that goes far beyond the remarkable visual qualities of the film. April 2, 2008

Bizarre & Wonderful

Three very strange, surreal, thoughtful movies. All three are five star movies but Woman of the Dunes is the masterpiece here. Almost lyrical in the beautiful camerawork and the slow, careful evolution of the story and themes. Pitfall is very melancholy. Face of Another is creepy..a thoughtful meditation on the "Invisible Man" idea. All three feature a protagonist who "disappears" one way or the other. How would you respond if you ceased to exist to the outside world? All three discuss themes of identity & dehumanization. There is a fourth disk of shorts and extras. Teshigahara directed only about 20 movies and the three here seem to be the cream of the crop. Teshigahara is a minor Japanese director you might consider trying on for size if you're a bit tired of Kurosawa and Ozu. March 27, 2008

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