Daily Gusto: <I>Pale Flower</i>

April 22, 2004

Pale Flower

Yakuza Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) finds himself in an existentialist funk in Masahiro Shinoda's Pale Flower (1964). Fresh from serving a three year prison sentence for a gangland murder, he feels no connection with the people he sees on the Tokyo streets. He could kill any one and it would not make a difference. The mob he belongs to has joined up with its former rival, all the better to prevent a new faction from Osaka from moving in on their territory. Things have changed in the relatively short amount of time he was away, but Muraki can still count on gambling to help relieve the tedium of his otherwise solitary hours.

card game.jpg

Illicit card games are held in the back rooms of downtown inns. At his first game back on the outside, Muraki meets Saeko (Mariko Kaga) young woman putting her all-male co-players to shame with her winning streak. (Shinoda uses the widescreen frame especially well in the game scenes, from overhead shots of the rectangular playing area, to horizontal pans along the players' faces. ) Saeko approaches Muraki after the game. Bored with the low financial risk of the games she has been attending, she is interested in raising the stakes. Muraki agrees to take her to the next level, playing with high-ranking yakuza men. After their first evening at this new location, Saeko takes Muraki on an impromptu drag race through the deserted streets of the city. When the race is over, she can barely contain her euphoric laughter ("I adore these evil nights!"). She inquires about dope, much to Muraki's dismay. He tells her to stay away from it, that the only people strong enough to keep an addiction under control don't need to shoot up anyway. It is apparent, however, that Saeko will always be seeking a new, better thrill.

As is often the case in mob movies, there is a turf war between rival gangs. When one of Muraki's mob is murdered, he volunteers to be the one to mete out retribution. He invites Saeko along to witness a thrill like no other she's ever experienced. The film climaxes in a virtuoso sequence in which camera work, performance, and music come together in the most beautiful way.

Much of the appeal of Pale Flower lies in the relationship between Muraki and Saeko. Both are loners drawn to each other because of that shared personality trait. Saeko may be dependent on others to supply the means to her excitement, be it entry to a high stakes card games or heroin, but she is also very independently minded and can hold her own in a male dominated world. After her late night drag race, the man who has won runs over to her car, laughing just as hysterically as she, and kisses her hand in a wildly exaggerated, perhaps drunken display of good will. When she stops showing up at the card games, the other players mention that they miss her presence, not just because they like having a beautiful woman there, but because she is an excellent player.

saeko car.jpg

Already likely an introvert, prison has made Muraki even more withdrawn. He revisits an old girlfriend but does not feel much contact with her beyond a perfunctory reconciliation. It is only natural that he would become attracted to Saeko. There scenes alone together have a sort of melancholic sweetness to them that gives the film's denouement an emotional edge.

Pale Flower is never lacking for arresting visuals. From the aforementioned card games to the clock shop Muraki's old flame lives in, Shinoda provides great locations and sees them with a keen eye. He uses music just as well, from Toru Takemitsu's inventive, seemingly jazz-influenced score to perfectly chosen source cues (dig that bowling alley theme!). Though the focus is primarily on Muraki and Saeko, the supporting characters are equally memorable, from the fifty-something mob boss peering in at the babies in the hospital, ecstatic that he has finally sired an heir, to another mob boss's son who has seen fit to make himself an unneeded right-hand man to Muraki.

Home Vision's dvd looks and sounds great, the source materials showing no overtly obvious flaws. Shinoda is present for a recent ten minute interview segment. He details his working relationship with the Shochiku Films company and gives some historical context for this time in the Japanese film industry, the Japanese "New Wave." American Cinematheque film programmer Chris B provides the liner notes, making a case for Pale Flower being an atypical example of the yakuza genre.

Posted by jason at April 22, 2004 10:15 AM | TrackBack

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