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Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Posted By: Someonelse
Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Story of a Prostitute (1965)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 2.35:1 | Cover + Booklet | 96 mins | 7,87 Gb
Audio: Japanese AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: English, French, Chinese
Genre: Art-house, Drama, War | The Criterion Collection #299

Director: Seijun Suzuki
Stars: Tamio Kawachi, Yumiko Nogawa, Isao Tamagawa

Volunteering as a “comfort woman” on the Manchurian front, where she is expected to service hundreds of soldiers, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikami, Narita’s direct subordinate. Seijun Suzuki’s Story of a Prostitute is a tragic love story as well as a rule-bending take on a popular Taijiro Tamura novel, challenging military and fraternal codes of honor, as seen through Harumi’s eyes.


After having her heart broken, Harumi volunteers to become a "comfort woman" for the Japanese army, a sexual slave (of sorts) sent to the front line of Manchuria to service the thousands of eager Japanese soldiers stationed in the desolate wastelands fighting the Chinese in World War II. She desires nothing more than to throw herself into the sea of eager male bodies, hoping to ease the pains of her broken heart by the sheer number of sexual encounters alone. But when she arrives and sees the squalid and abusive conditions she is expected to "work" in, she finds despair setting in far faster than she ever expected. This is made worse by the brutish Lieutenant Narita, a high-ranking officer who brutalizes and humiliates Harumi to the exclusion of all other soldiers. Her own delight from such encounters only further aggravates the rage swelling up within her, and she begins to plot his demise eagerly.

Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Hoping to strike back at her tormentor, she locks her gaze upon Mikami, a young soldier and personal assistant to Narita, sizing him up as a man she can seduce and turn against her tormentor. Mikami, however, is so dedicated to the Japanese Imperial mindset that he refuses her advances for no reason other than he dare not disgrace a senior officer. But Harumi is merciless in her advances and soon has her way with Mikami, and to her horror, she finds herself genuinely falling in love with the young soldier. Suddenly, she finds herself on the other end of the sword, a victim of her own guile and deception trapped in a three-way power struggle of sexual dominance and idealistic imperialism, all within the midst of a war rapidly declining in favor for the Japanese.

Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

She tries desperately to convince Mikami to run away with her, but the conflict of interest she has created in his heart is too much for him to bear and threatens to tear him apart. He is too set in his ways to ever think of abandoning his country…even if it means his own destruction…and hers as well.
DVD Verdict
Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Most likely the closest Suzuki ever got to making a prestige film. It probably wasn't viewed as such at the time, as it was a remake of a movie called Escape at Dawn that was generally considered a classic at the time (it was scripted by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Senkichi Taniguchi in 1950). Story of a Prostitute seemed like a much more lurid version of the older film. Both were anti-war pictures, but Escape at Dawn was romantic and tragic. Story of a Prostitute is harsh and cynical. Its scenes are often comic, which clashes with the standard view of war. In an interview on the new Criterion disc, Suzuki, a veteran himself, says that he found a lot of black humor and absurdity in his wartime experience.

Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

All three of WWII-themed films I've seen from him, which cover the pre-war (Fighting Elegy), the actual war (Story of a Prostitute), and post-war (Gate of Flesh) periods all incorporate some level of absurd, black comedy. The three films actually make a good trilogy (the rest I've seen are all yakuza or crime films). Story of a Prostitute is a very powerful anti-war film, though it is lurid and not nearly as powerful as something like, say, Kobayashi's The Human Condition. Yumiko Nogawa, who also starred in Gate of Flesh, gives a fantastic performance. But it is, as usual, Suzuki's supreme visual skills – in black and white in this instance – that make the film a stunning and memorable experience. His artistic imagination in cinematographic matters is nearly unsurpassed in the entire realm of cinema.
IMDB Reviewer
Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

About the Criterion Version from DVD Verdict:
Shot in sumptuous black and white, Story of a Prostitute has received the top-notch restoration that Criterions are known for, and for a film 50 years old, it is in remarkable shape. The film is quite ethereal in its softness, and dreamlike at times, with the stark gray background desert shots capturing the isolation and loneliness of remote China perfectly (despite probably being shot on a Nikkatsu backlot somewhere.) Black levels are solid, detail is consistent throughout, and the film has clearly been touched up a great deal, almost on par with Criterion's treatment of Gate Of Flesh. That being said, there are many visible defects still present in this film, especially noticeable during scenes of black shadow, where print damage and horizontal lines pop in now and again. It could be this very high contract that makes the remaining defects are far easier to spot. This is a small point, really, since the transfer is quite opulent has clearly had much restoration work performed on it. To nitpick on a few scratches seems foolish, as the presentation really is quite excellent and definitely up to Criterion standards.

Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Audio is a simple mono presentation, and it captures the eerie and melodic soundtrack perfectly, keeping dialogue balanced while touching up the crackles of audio. It is a fantastic presentation in terms of clarity and detail when considering the film's age.

Story of a Prostitute / Shunpu den (1965) [The Criterion Collection #299] [ReUp]

Extras are also on par with Criterion's recent handling of Suzuki films, including liner note essays, the original theatrical trailer, and the 27-minute featurette featuring interviews with Suzuki, production designer Takeo Kimura, and noted Japanese film critic Tadao Sato, a man influential in the cinematic community "discovering" Suzuki's work as films to appreciate rather than dismiss. It is a well-done segment; it spends a little too much time lauding Suzuki and his genius rather than discussing the film itself, but soon settles into its rhythm and offers some fascinating insight into the Japanese appreciation of such a film.

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