Forthcoming DVD releases and Imai's Ani Imoto

[Aaron Gerow]

>
> Otherwise, I today watched Imai's Ani Imoto / Older Brother Younger 
> Sister / Ino and Mon, and wondered if anyone could answer my query 
> about the male lead (playing Ino). Alas I was not paying attention 
> during the credits, but the man has very Caucasian-looking features 
> and I would guess is half-Japanese, half-European / American. I wonder 
> if anyone can confirm this and explain why, in a movie set within a 
> Japanese family, with two Japanese parents,?this might be the case. 
> The actress playing Mon looks rather Western too, but this is more a 
> matter of her hairstyle and makeup and such things and so only shows 
> she's supposed to be Westernised. Ino's features are definitely 
> un-Japanese-looking.

The actor is Kusakari Masao, who indeed is half-American in real life 
(his father was an American serviceman who died during the Korean War). 
Why he was cast in this role is an interesting question, but for that, 
you'd have to consider his star image in the 1970s, how the film was 
sold (press books, advertisements),his box office power, contemporary 
reviews, etc. in addition to whatever textual reasons there may be. I 
am more familiar with his later image, which is mostly of a kind and 
sophisticated gentleman, so casting him as the violent and rustic Ino 
does strike me as somewhat odd. The woman is Akiyoshi Kumiko, who was 
one of the big film stars of the 1970s and 80s. Even today, she's known 
for being a bit wild, so Mon doesn't seem a stretch for her.

Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

For list commands, send "information kinejapan" to
listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html