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Manji More at IMDbPro »
| Index | 10 reviews in total |
9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
An aesthetic triumph from a highly accomplished director, 17 November 2005
Author:
fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Another aesthetic triumph of obsession from the accomplished director
of "Blind Beast" and "The Razor 2: The Snare" -- to name only two of
his 60+ films.
It is a tale of love gone mad, a visually sumptuous melodrama told in
flashback by Kyoko Kashida, who plays a bored, cashed-up wife (Sonoko)
who falls hard for the beautiful, manipulative, engaged Mitsuko (Ayako
Wakao). Her fanatical love and jealousy create massive fissures in her
marriage, even triggering unpredictable, outrageous changes in her
husband Eijiro (Yasuke Kawazu).
The soap opera-like machinations of what, for a time, is a quadrangle
of love and possession, are fascinating to witness thanks to the solid,
audacious screenplay from writer Kaneto Shindo, the director and writer
of the classic "Onibaba".
Some visual passages of the film -- bodies shot through rippling
fabric, shadows dancing on flesh, restrained, delicate love scenes of
steamy eroticism, the use of an elegant score -- made me think that the
film probably influenced the look and tone of Hong Kong director Wong
Kar Wai's "In The Mood For Love".
The love of "Manji" is a doomed, impossible ideal that can not exist in
harmony with anything else. Director Masumura adheres strictly to this
viewpoint until the final, tragic revelation.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Deliciously overripe, 7 August 1999
Author:
NeelyO from W. Hollywood, CA
What do you get when you combine early-60's hairdo's and makeup,
histrionic
Japanese love triangles and forbidden lesbian passion? In this case, a
wonderfully bonkers movie that deserves a larger cult audience.
Any movie that features blood oaths, suicide pacts, taboo love affairs and
a
wife screaming "You don't love me enough! I need more love!" is one I'll
want to see again and again. (Too bad it's so hard to come by in the U.S.
-- the film screened recently at the American Cinematheque and Outfest in
L.A., and at the San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Film Festival, but apparently
only after much paperwork with Japan. Still, if you actually get a chance
to see it, DO NOT MISS IT!
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Complex characters, thoughtful examination, 25 August 2005
Author:
whist from United States
'Manji' is a film worth seeing. Written by Kaneto Shindô (of 'Onibaba' fame) and based on a novel by Tanizaki (of 'Some Prefer Nettles' fame), the story chronicles the decent/ascent of the unhappily married woman, Sonoko, into an obsessive/liberating relationship with another woman, Mitsuko, associated throughout the film with the goddess of mercy. While all of the main characters' emotions run high, placing 'Manji' firmly in the genre of melodrama, the emotional intensity is always tempered with an element of sly humor. Both Sonoko and Mitsuko have complex motivations, and each is keenly aware of the machinations of the other, ensuring that the story is about passion, weakness, and love, and not about unexamined emotions and victimization.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
classic of 60's Japanese cinema is a real treat, 22 March 2007
Author:
christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London
Directed and shot with some style, this is a rather lovely tragic drama
involving a quartet of characters.
Very Japanese in it's thrust and preoccupations this well told tale
pleases and surprises as it unfolds ever unpredictably.
There is much talk of love and betrayal, forgiveness and of course
suicide.
The scenes involving the taking of the powders from the bright red
squares of paper are astonishing.
Ever beautiful with effective music this not overlong classic of 60's
Japanese cinema is a real treat.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Well-Done Study On Love, Obsession, And Betrayal..., 12 September 2006
Author:
EVOL666 from St. John's Abortion Clinic
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Having only seen two of Masumura's films (the 2nd HANZO THE RAZOR
installment - THE SNARE, and BLIND BEAST), I wasn't really sure what to
expect from MANJI. I liked the other two films I'd seen very much - and
hoped this one would be equally good. I will say I was expecting
something a bit more "erotic" - more along the lines of BLIND BEAST -
but what I got was a very interesting story of obsessive love that was
light on the sleaze/nudity, but pulled me in to an intriguing web of a
storyline.
Sonoko is a relatively wealthy house-wife who has a crush on a female
schoolmate named Mitsuko. The two begin an obsessive relationship that
turns sour when Sonoko's husband finds out about the relationship, and
Mitsuko reveals Sonoko is not her only lover. Things go from bad to
worse as the deceptions and obsessions pile up, resulting in a
train-wreck of a climax...
MANJI is not what I was expecting. I figured on a more straight-forward
pinku-style entry and got something else completely. I should have
figured after the extremely artful BLIND BEAST that this would not be a
run-of-the-mill Japanese exploit film - and I must say that I was
pleasantly surprised how this one turned out. The story was a bit
far-fetched at times (the brother/sister blood-contract comes to
mind...) - but overall MANJI is a great film full of interesting and
unforeseen twists. My only real gripe is that I would have preferred
more nudity (as always...) - they could have shown some spicy scenes
between Sonoko and Mitsuko - but even so, this one is entertaining on
storyline alone. One of the more "interesting" films I've seen in a
while, and seems pretty ahead of it's time for 1964. Definitely
recommended...8.5/10
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
To our Goddess Mitsuko, 3 August 2006
Author:
Meganeguard from Kansas
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Within his large body of work, the noted Japanese novelist Tanizaki
Junichirou became renowned for the pure sensuality and eroticism. In "A
Portrait of Shunkin the servant of a blind samisen player blinds
himself when his mistress's face is marred. In "The Bridge of Dreams" a
young man is told by his father to accept his new stepmother as his own
and he goes as far as to nurse at her breasts and in "Mr. Bluemound a
man goes as far as to create perfect reproductions of a man's wife,
including such bodily excretions as mucus and feces. However, one of
Tanizaki's most famous, or infamous, creations is that of Naomi, a
novel about a modern girl with Eurasian features who wields control
over the men in her life with her beauty. The story this film is based
on is similar to Naomi, however, instead of seducing only the husband,
the wife is seduced as well. Actually this is incorrect, because the
wife is actually seduced before the husband.
The film opens with Kakiuchi Sonoko, Kishida Kyoko, visiting the home
of a writer stating that she wishes that she was a better writer so she
could write out her experiences for him in novel form. She then begins
to tell him of her stormy affair with the statuesque Tokumitsu Mitsuko.
Already infatuated with Mitsuko, rumors begin to spread around the
Woman's school Sonoko attends that she is having an affair with
Mitsuko. Finally getting a chance to talk to Mitsuko, the two women
decide to become the best of friends instead of keeping their distance
from each other. After Sonoko shows her a portrait she drew of her as
the Goddess of Mercy, Mitsuko states that it does not look exactly like
her. Sonoko then asks the beautiful woman if it would be okay for her
to paint her in the nude. Mitsuko agrees and sometime later goes to
Sonoko's home and disrobes herself and covers herself with a sheet.
Infatuated with the idea of seeing Mitsuko's completely nude body,
Sonoko rips off the sheet revealing Mitsuko's flesh and so begins there
affair.
Things seem to be going well at first, despite Sonoko's husband
becoming more and more suspicious of Sonoko's relationship with
Mitsuko, but one night Mitsuko calls Sonoko and asks her to bring her
some clothes. Not only clothes for herself, but some clothes for a man
as well. It is that night that Sonoko learns that Mitsuko has a fiancé
named Watanuki. Wanting to break off the relationship, Sonoko promises
her husband that she will be completely true to him, but soon Mitsuko
comes back into her life and the life of her husband as well.
The first of three filmic versions of Tanizaki's story, the second came
out in 1983 and a latest having been released this year, the 1964
version of Manji succeeds on a few levels despite a rather shaky plot.
The love making scenes are handled very well by showing plenty of flesh
without showing the naughty bits and the bare skin his highlighted by
juxtapositions of light and shadow. Also, Kishida Kyoko, who played the
woman in Woman of the Dunes, does a truly astounding job of acting.
While some of his other films might be better known, Masumura's Manji
shows the work of a truly original filmmaker.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A Nutshell Review: Manji, 28 August 2009
Author:
DICK STEEL from Singapore
If I can make a Hollywood reference for Manji, I'd suggest it's a
little bit like Closer, except that it's a lot more intense with its
expressions of love and lust, and extremely manipulative
characteristics built into its four lead characters, each faced with
selfish desires and dilemmas, centred around things like blackmail,
suicide pacts and adultery.
Housewife Sonoko Kakiuchi (Kyoko Kishida) narrates her tale to a stern
looking man (A cop? A biographer? A shrink even?) who maintains his
silence throughout that it seemed a little creepy. From nowhere in her
account of her tale did this chap feature in it, so one can only wonder
that he must be someone significant enough to warrant her to spill the
beans to.
Being victims of art school gossip, Sonoko and Mitsuko (Ayako Wakao),
the pretty daughter of a wealthy industrialist and a fellow student in
Sonoko's school, decide to take one step forward in killing off
malicious talk, and that is to play along to make it all seem real to
quash delight in talking behind someone's back. A short trip to Nara
later, and the duo seem to have clicked and hit it off like best pals
with common interests.
Soon their friendship ventured into some crazed sexual obsession,
especially when Mitsuko's model looks and figure drive Sonoko wild with
envy and strange desire, paving the way for some lesbian moments. And
as if their passion for each other isn't enough, soon they are joined
by Kotaro (Riji Funakoshi), Sonoko's questioning husband, and Watanuki
(Yusuke Kawazi) the clingy fiancé of Mitsuko. Various threesome
relationships soon start to form, with credit going to magic powder
that contributed to blending reality and fantasy, and Sonoko and
Watanuki engaging in a blood pact of sorts in a strange ritual to
possess their object of desire in Mitsuko to themselves.
For all the characters' cunningness, especially in master manipulator
Mitsuko and the equally shady Watanuki, I was half expecting some of
its plot elements to venture into a more conventional, and material
blackmail and ruin with contracts so casually signed and sealed (in
blood), but I guess director-in-focus for the festival Yasuzo Masumura
had other ideas, opting for the psychological and the emotional turmoil
that each of the characters face. There's this tremendous
trust-mistrust emotional ping pong that the characters go through which
will keep you constantly questioning and probing their intent and
hidden agendas. To me the actual highlight is exactly these mind games
the four characters play, the tussle to gain upper ground to fulfil
their personal wants, brought to life excellently by the actors
themselves that will keep you engaged all the way to the finale.
For those looking forward to its exploitative moments, this is not that
film. Comparing it to its genre peers, Manji seemed a little tame,
where sexual acts are mostly implied and nudity falling victim to
strategic cover-ups. I suppose that the lip locks too didn't actually
happen and had to rely on camera angles, and body doubles aptly used in
the gazing of the naked flesh. But then, the largest sexual organ is
firmly in top gear here, not as a stimulant but as a weapon in coming
up with conniving schemes to gain the upper hand, which in itself is a
horrific thought since we are all innately capable of falling prey to
temptation enough to design plans that hurt.
The festival films thus far had steered clear of the more conventional
thought of the themes presented, and clearly it's an eye opener as to
how many more films could fit into the themes in an unorthodox way. One
thing though, from last night's screening and today's, artists or
artists wannabe have been shown as souls willing to engage in deviant
acts in the name of their art, and more so too in satisfying their
strange fetishes. I look forward to see what more is in store in the
subsequent screenings!
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Obsession spiralling out of control, 22 April 2009
Author:
chaos-rampant from Greece
You know what ground you're treading with Manji from the get go. From
the swastika (the titular Manji) that announces the film's title,
there's nothing understated about it. The story of lesbian love between
the middle-class wife of a lawyer and a strikingly gorgeous model who
poses for painters at the centre of Manji is not of the suggestive
'glances and gestures' variety, this is not a drama on homosexual love
repressed by a rigid Japanese society, rather a soaring melodrama
masquerading a seemy underbelly of lies and morbid obsession.
It's true that the movie requires on the part of the viewer a few jumps
in logic. It asks him to accept that two complete strangers become so
obsessed with each other in a matter of days. But this is a two hour
movie neatly crammed in 90 minutes so the narrative economy is not
wasted. Out of the sweet, alluring love affair between the two women
director Yasuzo Masumura twists a progressively more nightmarish,
demented scenario, a convoluted story of fatal obsession, the addiction
to a perverse love, the need to control and be controlled and how quick
humans are to elevate other humans to a pedestal, eager to worship and
die for them.
If the movie seems to be twisting and writhing under the burden of its
own narrative weight, with small alliances, blood oaths, rifts and
reconciliations and all manner of cajoling and petty chicanery taking
place between the four major participants (the two women, the husband
of one and fiancé of the second) as each tries to win the object of his
desire or fend someone else from doing so, stick with it. Masumura has
paced the film and shaped his story so expertly that, by the one hour
mark, this tale of domestic treachery has spiralled out of control into
full blown paranoia, a bizarre and creepy psychological horror film of
sorts that happens so naturally and feels so perfectly plausible at
that point as to excuse the more overwrought tendencies that preceed
it.
The movie reflects that kind of claustrophobic obsession on every
level. Limited cast, tight shots, static camera, close grouping of the
actors in the frame, no exterior shots, monotonous piano score. Any way
you see it, this is a minor aesthetic triumph for Masumura. Strongly
recommended.
Mitsuko – my favorite woman from Tokyo, 9 June 2010
Author:
Eric-1226 from Seattle, Washington
I really love this film, for no better reason than to watch, eyes agape
and heart throbbing, at the beautiful performance of Ayako Wakao as
Mitsuko. Mitsuko is SO charming, seductive and sexy in this, that I
almost pay no attention to the somewhat twisty plot of the movie. It
has something to do with wily women working their wicked ways on each
other and a couple of men in their lives. And it all ends up in a sort
of crazy, tragic finale. But none of that really matters to me. What's
important is to watch Mitsuko – truly one of the most charmingly
seductive flirts to ever grace the screen.
I marvel at every breathless syllable, every sly tilt of the head,
every deceitful flicker of the eyes that this woman carries out.
Perfection! Nice hair, too! She is so fluid and natural, that one never
entertains the notion that this is an actress performing a role. I've
had the opportunity to see Ms. Wakao in other films, where she can be
much more cold and reserved, so this performance of hers in Manji was
truly a pleasant surprise, and really, quite a gift to someone like me
who appreciates a woman's charm and beauty – in spite of the fact that,
in this film anyway, it's all for the most manipulative of reasons.
I would add that there is excellent supporting work done by Kyoko
Kishida (Sonoko) who plays opposite Mitsuko as the woman who falls
irrevocably under her spell. Her final line at the end of the movie is
so heart-wrenchingly memorable. (I couldn't help but think that it
would have been great if they could have gotten Toshiro Mifune to play
the part of her husband.)
The DVD from which I viewed this (2002 release, letterbox format) is a
very nice transfer but for one small segment where, for some strange
reason, the colors nearly vanished and the picture went to a near-sepia
tone. The movie was beautifully filmed - thankfully in color - and
features nice use of color in areas such as costumes and set design.
And I'll just add one more gratuitous nod to the beauty of Mitsuko: the
use of color ensures that she looks ravishing in her print dresses. One
other area of note: the very effective background music. At times it
has a rather somber, foreboding element, somewhat resembling the slow,
deliberate piano intro of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.
All in all a nicely done, memorable movie, but I'll always remember it
for Mitsuko.
6 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Sonoko Kakiuchi, 31 August 2002
Author:
frankgaipa from Oakland, California
Lurid. Hysterical. Gaping improbabilities and plot holes. I thought
this might be a must-see because of the presence of Kyoko Kishida,
long-faced, thick-lipped, huge-eyed woman in Suna no onna made the same
year as Manji and the bizarre nurse in Tanin no kao made two years
later. Turns out her other-worldliness was Teshigahara's invention.
She's had a much varied 44 year career, mostly away from us here. See
Manji for Teshigahara's woman and nurse.
The other woman, despite a long, somewhat distinguished career, looks
and acts like an Elizabeth Taylor stand-in tumbled out of Tennessee
Williams land. But surely this is director Masmura's invention.
(Manji, by the way, is the Buddhist cross on the DVD box.)
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