Masumura Yasuzo/Oe Kenzaburo

[Li Hoo Cheong]

The Masumura Yasuzo Retrospective recently held in Hong Kong
was poorly attended, but the films were entertaining and
rewarding.  Two discoveries, for me at least but also shared
by other viewers, are <The Bogus Student> (1960) and 
<Seisaku's Wife> (1965).  The former film, made in the same
year as Oshima's more famous <Night and Fog in Japan> and 
also on the Student movement, is a near masterpiece which
stands the test of time, politically as well as artistically.
The original story is by Oe Kenzaburo whose works are rarely
adapted for the screen (Oshima did it once, so had Itami Juzo
who played the leader of the student movement in <The Bogus
Student> and whose real life sister is Oe's wife).  Has
anyone seen the film or read Oe's story?  I think the film's
strength may owe partly to Oe's balanced criticism of the
parties involved in this kidnapping, unlawful detention and cover-
up of a suspected spy as Masumura's adaptation of literary 
works are often quite faithful.  I am only guessing as I have not
read Oe's story.

The film program's description of the latter film also rings true:  
"Possibly Masumura's masterpiece, and certainly one of the great 
films of the sixties, <Seisaku's Wife> prefigures Oshima's 
controvesial <In the Realm of the Senses> in its portrait of erotic
obsession in the midst of rising militarism."

Of the 14 films shown, 7 had Wakao Ayako as the female protagonists,
including <Manji> and <Thousand Cranes>.  These two films are 
actually the weaker films among the seven shown. 

H. C. Li