Programme

Celebrating lunacy in the films of Masumura Yasuzo (1924- 86) is, essentially, an exploration of transgressive individuality and political freedom in the realm of sex and eroticism in Japanese cinema. 

The cinematic adventure of the aesthetic maverick can be traced upon his study at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, where Antonioni, Fellini and Visconti were said to be among his teachers. Returning to Japan to work at the Daiei studio as an assistant to Mizoguchi Kenji and then Ichikawa Kon, he is determined to strip away the sentimentality and lyricism prevailing Japanese cinema, envisioning to reveal the contradictions of life in postwar Japan. Pioneered in his directorial debut, Kisses, his radical fusion of eastern sensibility and western modernity erected a distinctive universe that presents an indictment of social injustice while celebrating liberation of body and soul. Renowned US critic Jonathan Rosenbaum noted how Masumura’s subverted melodramas echoed the critical works by Douglas Sirk and Nicholas Ray. Inspired by his fearless lead in reforming cinema, Oshima Nagisa and Imamura Shohei heralded the 1960s Japanese New Wave.

Ranging from eroticism, capitalist satire, anti-war to gender politics, Masumura's canon is encompassing, deliriously enchanting and challenging in equal measure. He specialised in transforming literary works by celebrated authors, including Oe Kenzaburo, Edogawa Ranpo and Tanizaki Junichiro into riveting dramas with his awe-inspiring visual inventiveness. Embodying his lifelong themes of sexuality and independence is the luscious Wakao Ayako, who exquisitely portrayed the new Japanese woman embracing a passion for truth and a daring expression of naked desires – be it a manipulating lady of erotic obsessions, an irresistible femme fatale who awakens blind imperialism, or an angelic military nurse offering her body for consolation. She stands for what meant to be a human, against a repressive and conformist society.

“There is no such thing as non-restricted desire. A person who thoroughly discloses his or her desire can only be considered mad… I want to create a mad person who expresses his or her desire without shame, regardless of what people think.” In his dazzling body of 58 films, Masumura’s madness transgresses the restraint of desires, opening up a new dimension to regain sight of our true mind.

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