Movielogr
An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.
Length 114 minutes
Actors
Kazuo Hasegawa | Fujiko Yamamoto | Ayako Wakao | Eiji Funakoshi | Narutoshi Hayashi | Eijirô Yanagi | Chûsha Ichikawa | Saburo Date | Jun Hamamura | Kikue Môri | Masayoshi Kikuno | Raizō Ichikawa | Shintarō Katsu | Ganjirô Nakamura | Yoshi Katô | Kôichi Mizuhara | Eigoro Onoe | Tokio Oki | Michirô Minami | Yutaka Nakamura | Chitose Maki | Toshio Chiba | Takeo Inoue | Akira Shiga | Takeshi Yabuuchi | Gen Kimura | Keiko Koyanagi | Musei Tokugawa | Hajime Koshikawa | Jun Arimura
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/03/2014 | TV | DVD | Library | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Like a stage play captured for a feature film. I imagine that it was before I dig into the details. Most everything here looks like a sound stage even when it is not. But the story is very personal driven by interaction and conversation. Very few moments without dialogue.
Kazuo Hasegawa is excellent portraying two roles, which I didn’t realize until the end. Ayako Wakao is overly cute but overshadowed by the stronger presence of Fujiko Yamamoto, who should’ve had a bigger career. She’s amazing.
Guess I wrote too soon because the accompanying essay in the extras filled some gaps regarding the actors. Fujiko Yamamoto actually did have a significant career of 50 films during career with her last in 1963 (she actually was voted Miss Japan in 1950 in what I believe was their first national beauty pageant).
Learning about the wonderful careers of many of the actors only made me more sad regarding the lack of accessibility for most of their films. Not just here in the US but even in Japan. How many are even available now?
For example, this was 5th time this story was adapted for film (plus three times as a TV series). And yet this is the only one of those available stateside to my knowledge. Tragic considering how significant the story is in Japanese history and culture.
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