Sakuran (2006)

A young girl is sold into a red-light district brothel and tries to adapt to life as an oiran (courtesan).

Director:

Mika Ninagawa

Writers:

Moyoco Anno (comic), Yuki Tanada (screenplay)

Stars:

Anna Tsuchiya, Kippei Shîna, Yoshino Kimura

4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Anna Tsuchiya	...	Kiyoha
Kippei Shîna	...	Kuranosuke
Yoshino Kimura	...	Takao
Hiroki Narimiya	...	Sojiro
Miho Kanno	...	Shohi
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Mitsunobu
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Masanobu Andô	...	Seiji
Kayoko Aoyagi
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Sakaguchi
Mayu Fujimori
Gori
Yasushi Higuchi
Akiko Hoshino
Yuki Hyôdô
Sadanji Ichikawa IV	...	Retired man

Storyline

A young girl is sold into a red-light district brothel and tries to adapt to life as an oiran (courtesan).

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Plot Keywords:

courtesan | shamisen | prostitute | goldfish | make up | 

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Did You Know?

Quotes

Shohi: The more a girl is given things, the more the others hate her. Since nobody likes you, it's perfect.

User Reviews

Visually stunning and very stylish

This is the ideal movie to put in your DVD player in order to impress your friends with your new flat-screen TV! The colours have been ramped up to 11 and the photography is absolutely stunning. Near the beginning of the film we see Anna Tsuchiya's character as a child watching the Oiran (the number 1 courtesan) parading down the street on her incredibly high wooden sandals. It is one of several visual sequences which, as a lover of the Japanese aesthetic (past and present) I simply can't get out of my head! Fantastic! The director (she is more famous as a photographer) uses the same approach (of modern music for a period movie) as Sophia Coppola in 'Marie Antoinette' but, for my money, much more successfully. Modern music frequently jars in Japanese movies but here it works brilliantly. Beneath the incredible visuals the story is really one of the brightly-plumed bird trapped in a gilded cage; beautiful as she and everything around her is, Anna Tsuchiya's character knows that escape seems impossible. But make no mistake, this is not a gloomy film, it's a downright treat.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan] (Japanese, English)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

24 February 2007 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Sakuran - Wilde Kirschblüte

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,247,539

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Asmik Ace Entertainment, Booster Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1