It's been roughly a year I started this site. My first intentions were only to cover 60s and 70s trashier side of things. However, something tragic for the film community has happened. Filmstruck is dying and with it, access to several Japanese films of the past that barely or never had a life outside of Japan. One director that I discovered through this wonderful service was Gosho Heinosuke. He started out around the same time as Ozu, Shimizu, and Mizoguchi. Early in his career, he shared a house with other directors Shimizu and Ozu. Gosho was a regular at Shochiku. His first films came out in 1925 and continued until 1968's
Meiji Haru Aki. In total, he directed 99 films, many of which of are not available outside of Japan or lost. Particularly in the case of his early work but that is common with a large majority Japanese films from this era.
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| Burden of Life |
On Januray 24, 1902 Gosho was born to a geisha and tobacco merchant. His father didn't acknowledge him for 5 years until the merchant's legitimate son died. With Heinosuke as the eldest son, he was now the heir and acknowledged by his father. Heinosuke's mother and her other children lived in poverty while he was significantly more well off with his father. For the rest of his life, he couldn't refer to his birth mother as 'mother' anymore. The family money came from a series theatres, they owned stock in and tobacco. This early exposure to art and theatre sparked an interest in film, specifically Chaplin and Lubitsch.
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| Gosho, Heinosuke |
After a degree from Keio Commerce School, his family expected him to get into the tobacco business. That was not case. Heinosuke went to Shochiku to be a filmmaker, his father was disappointed but couldn't stop him. His film career began in 1923 as an apprentice under Shimazu Yasujiro. His debut film,
Nanto no haru aka
Spring of the Southern Island, was released in 1925 shortly after getting his director certificate. He worked consistently for the next 43 years. On May 1, 1981 at the age of 79.
By the early 1930s, his films had started making less and less at the box office. Shochiku was not happy but there was a new gimmick. Not 3-D, not color, but sound. 1927's
The Jazz Singer broke the cinematic sound barrier and the cinematic took notice. Several Japanese directors were not ready or willing to take that risk. Heinosuke needed something to reignite his career. In 1931, Shochiku released
Madamu to nyobo aka
The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, which was the first fully sound Japanese film. Heinosuke threw in a tribute to Rene's
Under The Roofs Of Paris.
The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, 1931 - A lazy playwright moves to a quaint small village on the outskirts of Tokyo with his family. He has 5 days to finish a play he's had a full month to complete. As he tries to finish his play, he keeps getting distracted by numerous obstacles - children, cats, music, etc. The neighbors' are a jazz band practicing new numbers called 'The Speed Generation' and 'Speed, Hey.' The young female singer prompts the band to perform their new hits. He finally finishes the play and spends time with his family.
Burden of Life aka
Jinsei no onimotsu, 1935 - A late middle aged couple has several fully grown daughters and a 9 year old son. The father had to sell off land among other things to pay for various weddings. He's not interested in having a relationship with his son or even eating dinner with his son. This causes an argument between him and his wife. She leaves him with their son to stay with one of her daughters. The son absentmindedly walks to his father's house and they enjoy a meal together.
These are 2 of his more famous films, I'd imagine it's due to availability out of Japan and a few other reasons. One was already brought up above, breaking the sound barrier. It doesn't need too much time here but that was monumental. Sound as an element in film is an ingrained part of experiencing it. We are so accustomed to it that for some, film without sound, is inseparable. An important factor to understand with Japanese silent film is the silence. I've only seen a few silent Japanese films and they are different from the Western films. There is no music. It's complete silence. The aural soundscape adds an entirely different approach to film-making.
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| Inoue Yukiko in The Neighbor's Wife and Mine |
This said,
Neighbor's Wife fully encompasses this in a wide variety of ways. The most notable being the gimmick of utilizing sound. Everyone knows (or at least should know) that 3D is a gimmick, it's flashy and the point is sell tickets for the spectacle of it. In the classic William Castle films 3D was cheesy and ridiculous. Heinosuke took a similar approach here. The whole shabang bursts off the screen with a jaunty little march over the classic Shochiku logo and credits. Then that transfers directly into a wide open shot focused on a one man band in the full regalia dancing around then the playwright wanders into frame irritating a painter with a loud whistling melody (referencing the
Under the Roofs of Paris). The first sounds we get are not organic to the world, they are brash and bold. It ushers in a new era of film. Prior to this, sound was used in Japanese film to a smaller degree but this has a full sound design popping off the screen into our ears. Subtly, it's preparing us for what's to come. With a purposely obnoxious sound design meant to annoy the playwright and viewer alike on full display, we are get wrapped into this world via the sound. The story is light and fluffy but the sound is not.
Cut to 4 years...with
Burden of Life, the sound design is far more naturalistic and just a part of the film. There isn't an array of purposefully loud and/or grating noises on full display. It's been fully integrated into Japanese film by then. Some people were holdouts, like Ozu, but he was always slow to change anything about his style. On the other hand,
Burden falls in line with what's seen as an Ozu style story. It's a stripped down simplified family drama that's centered on a middle-class family with fully grown daughters who are of marrying age or are already married. You see three generations of the Fukushima clan. Each has there with own set of cultural values and views. The main difference is the lack of Ryu Chishu, Sugimura Haruko, Hara Setsuko, etc. However, Tanaka Kinuyo is in both of these as well as a few Ozus too.
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| The Neighbor's Wife and Mine |
Burden and
Neighbor's Wife both explore the relationship between money, art, and time. The central theme of both is the lack and preoccupation of time needed to accomplish a task. One is the task of completing a project on time so that there's enough money to support a single income family. The other is a tad more dire, the task of having the time and money to support a child that's not loved by both parents after paying off three weddings and oncoming retirement. Art comes into the equation in different pathways but the same thought behind it. For the Fukushima parents, their daughter Itsuko (played by the immortal Tanaka Kinuyo) and her husband are artists. We first see them doing when Itsuko is posing nude for her husband in their very Western decorated home. It appears they're doing fine but that isn't necessarily true. Even though she's independent, Itsuko still has to ask for money from time to time to the chagrin of the parents. It's openly acknowledged that this career path is an unsure one and that there's a gallery showing soon so hopefully this could be a breakthrough. Despite that, they are the happiest people in the whole film. Looking at
Neighbor's Wife, the playwright is a procrastinating loaf who'd rather goof off than work. He waits until the very last minute to work and that leads his wife to worry about everything. She's the responsible one because she's forced into it. With a shitty husband, he has the privilege to aimlessly waste time but she doesn't. She has to run everything, including money management, and be a dutiful wife. Art as a concept makes him happy but the work part of it is not fun. He avoids it even though he needs it. Worrying about time isn't the only concern. Money and the lack of it. Both families struggle financially. The spouse that worries the most is gender flipped in these. Tanaka in
Neighbor's Wife always ( and rightfully) scold the playwright. She understands how to make a living better than he does to the point that she's more a buzzkill than an equal partner. In the other film, Mrs. Fukushima is content and hopeful of their future raising a young child as upper middle aged people. Mr. Fukushima resents his child. He failed as a parent and patriarch though Mrs. Fukushima is still devoted to him through the rough patches.
Time even gets personified in many different throughout these films. With the preoccupation of lack and mismanagement of time, it's more than an abstract concept. There are several clocks, alarms, children, weddings, a band performing music, the act of writing/creating art, etc. This is perfectly exemplified with the son in
Burden and the music performance by the jazz band in the earlier film. Needless to say, the relationship of music and time is clear but it's not only that. The lyrics are about speed and the younger generation keeping in tune with the theme of the oncoming deadline. Notably, it takes up a large chunk of the hour-long run-time as well. This also tosses in the element of modernity vs. traditional. The singer is a modern woman. She's dressed in Western fashion and wearing makeup. Her on-screen energy is wild, free, and unpredictable. Looking at the playwright's wife, she is the opposite. Her life is set and on rails. It's upsetting to put it lightly. The choice of picking a lane is a mandatory for women. The Playwright rides that line with ease and comfort. This carries into
Burden. The women occupy 2 different spaces and eras where the men are freely in-between.
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| The Neighbor's Wife and Mine |
Gosho, much like several other people and films highlighted previously, is overlooked and forgotten. In his time, he worked alongside greats like Ozu, Mizoguchi, and Shimizu. Their shadows engulf Gosho's entire nearly 50 year career. In his time, Heinosuke was a top tier name but the lack of critical attention and accessibility keeps him in obscurity until now.
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| Gosho himself |
While you can, please watch these on Filmstruck (I don't like to date these like this but this is different).
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