Sun Legends

[TKBowman]

In a message dated 4/16/98 5:19:29 PM, Bill wrote:

>The few films I've seen by Yuzo Kawashima convince me that he
>is an undiscovered master (even though Imamura did write
>a book about him).  Does anyone know if there has ever
>been a thorough retrospective of his works?

The Rotterdam International Film Festival held a mini-retrospective of
Kawashima in 1991. It was part of a program titled "Japanese Kings of the Bs"
and also included films by Suzuki Seijun and Mori Issei. Kawashima had the
following four films in the retrospective:

Bakumatsu tayoden (The Sun Legend of the End of the Tokugawa Era, 1957)
Onna wa nido umareru (A Woman is Born Twice, 1961)
Shitoyanaka kedamono (Elegant Beast, 1962)
Suzaki paradaisu: akashingo (Suzaki Paradise: Red Light Distrct, 1956)

The festival also published a small booklet to accompany the series that only
covers Kawashima and Mori.  There are three chapters devoted to Kawashima, two
of them written by Imamura. The booklet was very inexpensive and could
probably be ordered over the IFRR web site for those interested.

Unfortunately I have yet to see a Kawashima film.

Todd Bowman
tkbowman at aol.com