Taiyo no hakaba

The Sun's Burial / [Auringon hautajaiset] / [Solens begravning]. JP 1960. PC: Shochiku. D: Nagisa Oshima. SC: Nagisa Oshima, Toshiro Ishido. DP: Takashi Kawamata - Eastmancolor - Shochiku Grandcope 2,35:1. DP: Koji Uno. M: Riichiro Manabe. ED: Keiichi Uraoka. CAST: Kayoko Hondo (Hanako), Junaburo Ban (Yosematsu, Hanako's father), Fumio Watanabe (Yosehei), Kamatari Fujiwara (Batasuke, the ragman), Tanie Kitabayashi (Chika, Batasuke's wife), Eitaro Ozawa (The Agitator). English subtitles. Print: Japan Foundation. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 20 Aug 2009. - Brilliant print. - Oshima's grim vision, the counter-image of Japan's economic miracle, the slum with its human misery, organized robbery, even murder, illegal blood banks, trading identities, rags, guns, women's flesh. - The cruelty of the crimes is accompanied by gentle guitar music. - The colour scheme is bold, dominated by red. - Crueller than Miracolo a Milano and Dodeskaden, crueller than even Los olvidados. - Hanako, the woman without soul, love and conscience, is the most shocking figure in the film.