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| Superimposed Ibuki (Shishido Jo aka Chipmunk Cheeks) and Sen (Esumi Eimei) |
I’m not sure if I’ve
mentioned it before but the Japanese Post-War film is a particular sweet spot
for me. It’s a deeply important subgenre, not just for Japan but for the world.
The realities of life are upfront and have to be dealt with.
It was a rebellion against the Kurosawas, Ozus, and Mizoguchis. The old guard
was not willing to tackle the issues of occupied Japan. Kurosawa famously avoided bringing up WW2 directly
until late in his career. Ozu and Mizoguchi would hint at the Americans in
their own ways but that was not enough for the upcoming generation of
directors. Imamura made the irresistible Pigs
and Battleships, an unrelenting yet brilliant film by the man who would go
on to make more unrelenting films. On the flip side of Imamura was Suzuki
Seijun. An abstract artist whose chosen art form was film. Early in his career,
he was responsible for the run-of-the-mill Nikkatsu B movies. This color remake of a 1948 film was a pivotal turning point.
Gate of Flesh - Maya (Nogawa Yumiko, BWHAH:
Final Episode with the chipmunk
cheeked Shishido) gets used and abused by the new Americanized Tokyo until she
meets Sen (Kasai Satoko). Sen along with her friends are prostitutes without a
pimp living out a Golden Girls scenario. They have their own rules, most
importantly - no freebies. When Ibuki (Shishido Jo aka Mr. Chipmunk Cheeks)
shows up, things change. He needs to hide
out for a bit and stays with the girls. The chemistry shifts with a hunky man around.
Jealousies arise and lines get crossed. Maya ends where she began at the start.
Without getting too
hyperbolic, I absolutely adore this film. Every single time I’ve watched it, it keeps getting better. In 90 minutes, Gate
manages to squeeze in a Mizoguchi prostitution story, woman’s picture,
Post-War, social satire, dark comedy, abstract art, and even more genres and
subgenres. The bizarre mix of feelings and tones perfectly mesh into an incredible (albeit very
broad and theatrical) portrayal of Post-War Tokyo. Tanada Goro’s screenplay (based on Tamura Taijiro's novel)
captures the complexities - from the depths of depravity to the rare moments of
happiness.
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| Superimposed Maya (Nogawa Yumiko) over Sen punishing Machiko (Tominaga Misako) for breaking the rule. |
The Americans are in charge and have free reign to do
what they wish. The Japanese men have to serve their foreign overlords. The
Japanese women have to endure whatever happens to them. Each and every American seen
is not only the enemy but someone to take advantage of. Corruption
and depravity always flourish in these situations. This was not unique to Japan
in the late 1940s, this is every country occupied by a foreign power. Even though this is specifically Japan, it's a universal scenario that will never get dated.
The only good or at least
good-willed American was the black preacher who Maya befriended prior to
meeting her new family. He was willing to help her after she was raped and
abandoned by Americans. He tried to save her
the only way he knows how - with religion. Everyone is vulnerable to the corruption, even the
steadfast preacher. Maya fucks him as a means to an end. His faith is the lens through which he
understood and processed the world. He hangs himself in shame. Even the most innocent will succumb to the physical and moral
decay.
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| Ibuki with his puffy cheeks. |
Lust fills the atmosphere,
everyone breathes it in, day and night. You can resort to alcohol or drugs
for a release from the ugliness that surrounds them but sex is better. Sex is
the only thing that everyone can do - it’s leisure, a weapon, currency,
occupation, and so much more. Maya’s journey is empowered and destroyed because
of it. She falls into sex work out of desperation but turns it into not just a
means of survival but something she proudly owns. However, with that pride she
breaks the number one rule - fucking that chipmunk-cheeked hunk. Maya’s complicated
relationship with sex is at the core. Every choice that propels the plot
involves it. In the wake of global violence and foreign occupation, sex flourishes as the most powerful
force that levels the playing field while disrupting everything at the same time.
With the power balances
thrown out of whack, the societal roles shift and morph with that change. Maya
and her crew survive without a man voluntarily. They need to work. Like any
job, they enjoy it sometimes and other times it’s just another Monday. Once a
man appears in their home, he assumes that he’ll be the alpha. The clash of modern women and
old-fashioned men gets messy. Whenever he tries to lead them and take control,
they laugh in his face. On the flip side, they all want a piece of him. He’s
hotter than all their clients and those cute cheeks too! The truce isn’t
broken by him taking one of them. Maya pursues him. He then dies and Maya loses
everything again by the end. The rest of the girls reunite and move on. Is this
saying women need a man or simply saying shit happens? It’s messy, ugly, and real. There are no clear or easy answers. Japan was a changing nation and this highlights the rough patch of societal growing pains during the occupation.
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| Roku (Ishii Tomiko) and the cow that Ibuki is about to slaughter. |
Nothing about Suzuki’s style
or films are traditional. As I stated on the Princess
Raccoon review, he actively rejected the real life qualities and
sensibilities that his peers, Kobayashi and Imamura, indulged in. Exploring the
fantastical and melodramatic, Suzuki turned what would been a grimly funny and upsetting
Imamura film into a pop art blast of colors, emotions, and very recent history.
Not to say that the world isn’t based in reality, its colorful pop explosion
but refuses to shy away from the brutal and harsh realities of that particular
time.
Gate of Flesh was
one of his first big steps outside of the routine gangster B picture into both what
eventually got him fired from Nikkatsu and his iconic cinematic style. Up to this point, he was starting to get messages from the men
upstairs over his eccentric stylistics. There was a formula in place to follow,
Suzuki initially went with the program and learned the ins and outs of what was
wanted. His nonstop pace for over a decade (over 40 movies
between 1956-1967) would naturally lead to any artist would get bored and want to experiment
every now and again. Imbued with the his dynamic maverick spirit, by the
mid-1960s his style continued to develop. Gate of Flesh was the point of no return.
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| Ibuki reenacting military marches with the 'ghost' of Maya's brother. |
This could easily be
disregarded as colorful pulp without a message. Suzuki was famously more concerned with
the image over story but he knew exactly what he was doing. The Post-War film
was already established and in general they were black-and-white at this point. Adding big colors
and exaggerated style to the mix really makes the difference. Anyone can throw
colors and stylistics onto the screen but few understand how to make it matter.
From the musical number in color-coordinated sets to the slaughter of a live
cow by Shishido to superimposing someone's image into a scene, this is a packed like a can of US Army pineapples. There are more Suzuki films to embrace and love than Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Gate of Flesh isn’t just top tier
Suzuki, but one of the best Japanese Post-War films.
Gate of Flesh is
available on DVD and Streaming. This story has remade in 1977, 1988, and a TV series in 2008.
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