Shigeru Izumiya returns from shipwreck and a sojourn in America to Japan in the chaos of the Meiji Restoration. He escapes from prison, searches out his wife, Kaori Momoi, who had been sold by her parents to the perpetual carnival outside of Tokyo. They struggle to reconnect, and eventually gain a tentative foothold, only to see it vanish in the last thrashings of the Shogunate.
Shôhei Imamura had taken a decade off from narrative movies to direct documentaries. He had returned to fiction in 1979, but his focus was still on the underclass, and the chaos they live amidst. As his leads struggle and fall, and cease to care, Imamura's focus is on their futile efforts to find some happiness, and the uncaring brutality of their rulers. It's a long journey from Kurosawa's noble samurai and traditional Japanese insistence on dedication to the nation to this frequently shocking movie, but the director's focus and viewpoint are compelling.
Shôhei Imamura had taken a decade off from narrative movies to direct documentaries. He had returned to fiction in 1979, but his focus was still on the underclass, and the chaos they live amidst. As his leads struggle and fall, and cease to care, Imamura's focus is on their futile efforts to find some happiness, and the uncaring brutality of their rulers. It's a long journey from Kurosawa's noble samurai and traditional Japanese insistence on dedication to the nation to this frequently shocking movie, but the director's focus and viewpoint are compelling.