Pale Flower (1964)
"Kawaita hana" (original title)

Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young ... See full summary »

Director:

Masahiro Shinoda

Writers:

Shintarô Ishihara (based on the novel by), Masaru Baba (screenplay),

Stars:

Ryô Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki

Cast

Credited cast:
Ryô Ikebe	...	Muraki
Mariko Kaga	...	Saeko
Takashi Fujiki	...	Yoh
Chisako Hara	...	Yakuza's lover
Eijirô Tôno	...	Gang leader
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Gang leader
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mikizo Hirata	...	Mizuguchi
Keiko Kuni	...	Waitress
Sôhei Kurata	...	Hayakawa
Shin'ichirô Mikami	...	Reiji
Hiroshi Mizushima
Shin'ya Mizushima	...	Sabu
Koji Nakahara	...	Tamaki
Tomoko Saitô	...	Geisha
Isao Sasaki	...	Jiro

Storyline

Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. Muraki becomes her mentor while simultaneously coping with the shifts of power that have affected the gangs while he was interred. When he notices a rogue, drug-addicted young punk hanging around the gambling dens, he realizes that Saeko's insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.

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Plot Keywords:

yakuza | japanese noir | hana fuda | gambler | based on novel

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1 March 1964 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Pale Flower

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bungei Production Ninjin Club

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Japanese film adaptation of "On the Road"

Whereas "Blue Velvet" is about the lengths that people go to for sexual gratification, "Pale Flower" is about that lengths that people go to for a few "kicks," kind of like a Japanese gangster adaptation of Kerouac's "On the Road."

Upon attempting to release "Pale Flower," the studio's censor banned the film, and this fact says quite a bit about the temperature of Post-War Japan's pop culture, and the target audience of this film. While the director claims the film is about Japan's uncertain stance in the Cold War, it may be more accurate to say that the film is about Shinoda's Nihilistic stance towards Japan's relationship to the world's superpowers.

And while nihilism describes Shinoda, existentialism may better describe Muraki and Saeko. Gambling, animalistic sex, drugs, all in an effort to just feel something, anything, and to get lost in the moments those emotions provide. Some would say that the gambling scenes are too long and do little to advance the plot, but this movie's script is made up mostly of unspoken dialogue and it is during the gambling scenes that the main characters are developed.

While I loved 95 percent of this film's moody and atmospheric lighting, at times it's so dark you can't tell what's going on. Still, the shots are well constructed, the actors well directed, and their performances subtle yet effective. Dig the sexual tension that is constantly building between Muraki and Saeko, and how this tension is dealt with. Somehow I felt myself sympathizing with this killer in a very real way, and this says something about Shinoda's and "Pale Flowers" success.