Souls on the Road
Souls on the Road | |
---|---|
Directed by | Minoru Murata |
Screenplay by | Kiyohiko Ushihara |
Based on | Children on the Street byWilhelm Schmidtbonnand on the playThe Lower DepthsbyMaxim Gorky |
Produced by | Kaoru Osanai |
Starring | Kaoru Osanai Haruko Sawamura Denmei Suzuki |
Release date |
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Country | Japan |
Language | Silent film |
Souls on the Road(Lộ thượng の linh hồn,Rojō no Reikon)is a 1921 Japanesesilent filmdirected byMinoru Murata.Film criticMark Cousinswrote that it was "the first landmark film in Japanese history".[1]The film's plot is adapted from Maxim Gorky's play, The Lower Depths, and Wilhelm Schmidtbonn's drama, Children on the Street.[2]
Plot
[edit]Prodigal son Koichiro is introduced midway through his failing career as a violinist in Tokyo. Following a violent incident in which he assaulted a critic, he is expelled from the orchestra and retreats from Tokyo with his wife Yōko and daughter Fumiko. The three determine to return to Koichiro's mountain home to his father.
On the arduous winter journey, two recently liberated convicts Tsurikichi and Kamezo attempt to rob them on the road but when they find out that the family have nothing, they share their bread with the family.
On arriving home, Koichiro is vehemently rejected by his father, despite pleading on behalf of his daughter and the gathering snow storm.
In a nearby villa, Reijo and her guests celebrate Christmas with decorations andYagibushidancers. Her butler discovers the escapees trying to break into a store house but takes mercy on them and invites them into the gathering.
Meanwhile, Koichiro and family try to take refuge from the storm in a hay-bale storehouse. Late in the night Koichiro's father comes to remove them from the barn, but discovers his granddaughter has died from the cold. The next day Koichiro is found by Reijo and the woodcutter in the snow, also having frozen to death. The pair wonder whether their lives might have been saved if they had been shown mercy.
The film emphasizes the mercy shown by many characters, including the father Sugino towards the jilted fiancé Mitsuko, the ex-convicts Tsurikichi and Kamezo towards the family, and the butler towards Tsurikichi and Kamezo, in contrast against the stubborn rejection of the father towards his prodigal son.
Cast
[edit]- Sugino:Kaoru Osanai
- Sugino's son, Koichiro:Denmei Suzuki
- Koichiro's wife, Yōko:Haruko Sawamura[ja] trạch thôn xuân tử
- Koichiro's daughter, Fumiko:Mikiko Hisamatsu
- Koichiro's previously betrothed, Mitsuko:Ryuko Date
- Taro, the young woodcutter:Minoru Murata
- Ex-con 1 Tsurikichi:Minami Kōmei
- Ex-con 2 Kamezo:Shigeru Tsutamura
- Reijo of the villa:Yuriko Hanabusa
- Butler of the villa:Kiyohiko Ushihara
- Guard of the villa: Sōtarō Okada[ja] cương điền tông thái lang
Legacy
[edit]ProfessorMitsuyo Wada-Marcianohas noted that the performance of Yuriko Hanabusa directly recreates details ofMary Pickford's characters whereas later films such as A Burden of Life depict more subtle referentiality between Hollywood conventions and Japanese daily life.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Mark Cousins (4 October 2006).The Story of Film.Da Capo Press. p. 56.ISBN978-1-56025-933-6.Retrieved10 April2013.
- ^Pinar, Alex (1 August 2023)."Russian Literature in Japanese Film: Cross-cultural Adaptations in the Silent Era"(PDF).Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).Retrieved3 September2024.
- ^Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2008).Nippon modern: Japanese cinema of the 1920s and 1930s.Honolulu, T. H: University of Hawaiʿi Press. pp. 82–3.ISBN978-0-8248-3182-0.
Further reading
[edit]- Daisuke Miyao(4 March 2013).The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema.Duke University Press.ISBN978-0-8223-5422-2.Retrieved10 April2013.
- Eric Cazdyn (14 October 2002).The Flash of Capital: Film and Geopolitics in Japan.Duke University Press.ISBN978-0-8223-8391-8.Retrieved10 April2013.
- Joanne Bernardi (2001).Writing in light: the silent scenario and the Japanese pure film movement.Wayne State University Press.ISBN978-0-8143-2961-0.Retrieved10 April2013.
- Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano (2008).Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s And 1930s.University of Hawaii Press.ISBN978-0-8248-3182-0.Retrieved10 April2013.
- Donald Richie(27 May 2005).A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, With a Selective Guide to Dvds And Videos.Kodansha International.ISBN978-4-7700-2995-9.Retrieved10 April2013.
External links
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