Tôkyô kôshinkyoku

Name: Tôkyô kôshinkyoku
Genre: Drama
Released: 1929-05-31
Duration: 1 h 41 min
Rating: 6.6
Cast: Shizue Natsukawa, Reiji Ichiki, Eiji Takagi

1929
1h 41m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

335

YOUR RATING

Drama

A classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in feudal Japan, depicted in Kenji Mizoguchi's typical style. The nostalgic scenes of 1920s Tokyo provides a valuable visual ... Read allA classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in feudal Japan, depicted in Kenji Mizoguchi's typical style. The nostalgic scenes of 1920s Tokyo provides a valuable visual experience set against the background of the title song, "Tokyo March."A classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in feudal Japan, depicted in Kenji Mizoguchi's typical style. The nostalgic scenes of 1920s Tokyo provides a valuable visual experience set against the background of the title song, "Tokyo March."

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

335

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos17

Shizue Natsukawa in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Isamu Kosugi and Shizue Natsukawa in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Shizue Natsukawa and Eiji Takagi in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Reiji Ichiki and Isamu Kosugi in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Reiji Ichiki and Hisako Takihana in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Hisako Takihana in Tôkyô kôshinkyoku (1929)

Featured review

6/10

Passingly interesting film, livened by benshi narration

Version I saw : Bluray (projected), subtitled, with benshi narrator

Actors: 5/10

Plot/script: 6/10

Photography/visual style: 5/10

Music/score: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

Tokyo March is one of the few surviving films by director Kenji Mizoguchi. I saw it as a result of a demonstration at Manchester University of the interesting practice of 'benshi' narration. The narrator provides dialogue, imitating voices for all characters, and adds notes explaining the narrative to the audience. It arose during a time when literacy was poor in Japan, so the inter-titles were of little assistance.

The film itself is a broad melodrama covering themes of social stratification. It's not especially good, and suffers from the perennial problem of silent film overacting, but at only 3/4 of an hour, at least does not overstay its welcome.

If it has any great value, it is as a historical document. Tokyo March speaks to the social and cultural environment of Japan at the time, as well as revealing to the educated cineaste the state of film techniques and technology in the country. For example, I detected strong echoes of the work of D.W. Griffith, reflecting the fact that America was a good 10 years ahead of Europe in terms of film exports to Japan.

If you get a chance to see this, or any other film, with a benshi narrator, I think you will not regret trying it. Aside from that, there is not really a huge amount to see here.

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