Yoru no sugao / The Naked Face of Night

Kozaburo Yoshimura: 夜の素顔 / Yoru no sugao / The Naked Face of Night (JP 1958). Machiko Kyo (Ikemi). Photo © Kadokawa

夜の素顔 / [Il volto nudo della notte] / Night’s Face / Le vrai visage de la nuit / [The Ladder of Success]. 

    JP 1958. Prod.: Daiei. 

    Director: Kozaburo Yoshimura. Scen.: Kaneto Shindo. F.: Yoshihisa Nakagawa. Scgf.: Shigeo Mano. Mus.: Sei Ikeno. Int.: Machiko Kyo (Ikemi), Ayako Wakao (Hisako), Jun Negami (Ltn. Wakabayashi, military entertainment officer), Eiji Funakoshi (Naruse), Sugawara Kenji (Amamiya), Michiko Ono (Kunie), Minosuke Bando (Jujiro Nakamura), Chikako Hosokawa (Shino Komura, head of the Komura School), Chieko Naniwa (Kinue). Col. 121 min

    Not released in Finland.

    35 mm print from: NFAJ National Film Archive of Japan

    Courtesy of Kadokawa

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2024: Kozaburo Yoshimura, Undercurrents of Modernity

    English subtitles.

    Viewed at Jolly Cinema with e-subtitles in Italian by Chiara Saretta, 29 June 2024

Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström (Bologna 2024 Catalogue): "Another fine Kaneto Shindo screenplay was the basis for this rarely screened drama, described by Donald Richie as “a complete unmasking of the world of the traditional Japanese dance”. Unfolding between World War II and the postwar present, it recounts the rivalry of two dancers determined to “look back at the world”."

"Two outstanding postwar actresses of slightly different generations aptly personify mentor and pupil. Machiko Kyo, seen elsewhere in this retrospective in Itsuwareru seiso, was celebrated for her assertiveness and allure; she had also acted for Yoshimura in his adaptation of the Heianera prose epic, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, 1951) and in his Yoru no cho (Night Butterflies, 1957), about bar hostesses in Tokyo’s Ginza district."

"She had already starred opposite Ayako Wakao (1933) in Mizoguchi’s last film, Akasen chitai (Street of Shame, 1956). Wakao personified a new type of Japanese femininity, rebellious and insistently modern. Having made a name for herself as the dissident geisha chafing at the restrictions of her profession, in Mizoguchi’s Gion bayashi (Gion Festival Music, 1953), she went on to become the face of Yasuzo Masumura’s fresh, stylish, European-influenced cinema."

"Here, the different star personae of the two actresses tellingly bring to life the rivalry between the two dancers. For the “Kinema Junpo” reviewer, the film was “not sentimental but amoral, as it is full of people who choose the best way for their own benefit only, not for the benefit of others.” Shindo himself admitted to disliking the atmosphere of Japanese dance, and declared that his priorities lay elsewhere: “What I’m interested in are money, power, bluffing, lewdness, and naked human statues that dance with excitement.” " Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström (Bologna 2024 Catalogue)

AA: Kozaburo Yoshimura's Yoru no sugao is a film about the world of dance, and like Itsuwarero seiso, it benefits from the talent of the star Machiko Kyo, a professional dancer. Both Itsuwarero seiso and Yoru no sugao culminate in a magnificent dance performance with a tragic incident - the Annual Geisha Ball in the former, "The Dawn of Japan" in this one.

Yoru no sugao reminds me of the hard-boiled Warner Bros. backstage musicals of the 1930s (42nd Street, Footlight Parade): the heartless ambition, the breakdown of society in the background, Pre-Code awareness of male and female prostitution - and above all an irresistible talent and energy transcending everything.

Yoru no sugao resembles the geisha tales of Yoshimura and Shindo, only it is more violent than them. Ikemi and Hisako settle their accounts with fists and hairclips.

There is an epic arch covering 15 years of Japanese war and reconstruction. It starts in 1942 at the Southern Air Corps Base. Ikemi (Mashiko Kyo) travels on a military entertainment tour, and during an air raid, Lieutenant Wakabayashi (Jun Negami) holds her tight in a shelter dugout deep in the jungle. 

In the ruins of Tokyo, Ikemi enters the legendary Komura Dance Academy, but it is by now old-fashioned, and Shino Komura (Chikako Hosokawa) is in bitter tears as critics find her old hat. She refuses to help Ikemi found a new dance school, but her husband, smitten by Ikemi, promises to help. Then Ikemi meets Wakabayashi again, and they marry. 

The new school is a success, but money troubles never end. Ikemi's star pupil Hisako (Ayako Wakao) wastes no time scheming behind Ikemi's back and seducing Wakabayashi. All along Ikemi is under too much pressure. She opens a magnificent dance drama with ballet, "The Dawn of Japan". The cruel critics, familiar from the Komura Academy, now turn against Ikemi. 

In the last minutes of her life, Ikemi summons a press conference backstage. For the first time she tells about her childhood. When she was 12, her father sold her to five men for sex. The one single aim of her life has been to gain respect as a dancer. That would be her atonement. The media scavengers are only in it for scoops. They do not have respect even for death. An unscrupulous photographer lifts the white cloth covering Ikemi's lifeless face to photograph her.

Ayako Wakao, one of Japan's biggest stars, still with us, had her breakthrough in Sex Guide for Teenage Girls (1953) and was cast by Mizoguchi in Gion bayashi and Akasen chitai. She appeared eight times in the films of Yoshimura.

Shot by Yoshihisa Nakagawa (Chijo), Yoru no sugao is the earliest scope film by Yoshimura that I have seen, and his joy at the wide screen is evident. His beloved crane shots emerge in newfound grandeur in scenes of war, devastation - and the beauty of the grandiose dance spectacles. Yoshimura knows how to take advantage of the scope frame for split screen. The horizontal frame is also suitable for sensual positions.

In another affinity with American musicals, Yoru no sugao is a travelogue. It has breathtaking tour montages over Japan, including from the air. On the other hand, Yoru no sugao introduces television: "The Dawn of Japan" - and Ikemi's collapse - are televised.

In a dance and ballet film, music is essential, and Sei Ikeno (Yoru no kawa) rises to the occasion with a score fascinating both in traditional koto performances and modern sounds. His sound is at times magnificent, at times eerie and wistful.

Yoru no sugao is more expansive than most other Yoshimura films I have seen, but there are also passages of low intensity.

It is a privilege to see a 35 mm print in scope from the National Film Archive of Japan on the magnificent screen of Cinema Jolly. The visual quality is at times soft and blurry and the colour sometimes fading.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: STORY FROM EIGA.COM:

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: STORY FROM EIGA.COM:

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ストーリー

一九四二年、南方航空隊基地。空襲下、軍慰問の踊子・朱実と、慰問係士官・若林中尉はジャングルの奥深い防空壕の中で結ばれた。－－一九四八年、東京に引揚げて来た朱実は、小村流の家元・小村志乃に弟子入りした。やがて六年後－－朱実は、志乃が歌舞伎俳優の中村十次郎と踊りたいという念願を利用することより、自分の飛躍を図った。修善寺温泉で十次郎に逢い、色仕掛けで彼を説きふせた。発表会の結果、志乃が老醜、古色蒼然と叩かれたの反し、朱実は新鮮溌溂と絶賛された。朱実は、志乃のパトロン猪倉を誘惑し、彼の後楯で菊陰流を創立した。舞踊研究所の落成披露に贈られた花輪の一つに眼を止めた朱実は、動揺した。若林の名があったのだ。安ホテルに彼をたずね、二人は抱擁にひたった。やがて、朱実と若林は結婚した。そして、封建的な家元制度反逆という歌い文句で、師匠と弟子の関係を、教師と生徒に置きかえ、月謝制度を公演という手に替えて、全国を公演して歩いた。しかし、仕事の成功に比例するように、借金がかさんだ。朱実の家まで、担保入れる始末だった。やがて、朱実は日本舞踊同盟を結成、彼女の勢力は舞踊界から抜くことのできぬ強固なものになった。が、朱実の地位を狙うものがあった。内弟子の比佐子である。比佐子は若林と結ばれていた。その現場を見られた若林は、朱実の許から去って行った。そして、比佐子と舞踊研究所を始める準備を、蔭で進行させていた。朱実は、バレーを盛りこんだ舞踊劇「日本の夜明け」を公演することに成功した。その初日、朱実は舞台で突然倒れた。間もなく、楽屋で彼女は息をひきとった。比佐子は記者たちに、「わたくしが立派あとをついで参ります」と昂然と言った。