• 歌行燈 (The Song Lantern)

11/26/23 (Sun)

A 1943 film by Naruse based on a novel by early 20th-century author/playwright Izumi Kyoka (which has the much more evocative English title A Song by Lantern Light). Izumi’s fantasy contents wouldn’t seem an ideal subject for the more grounded Naruse, but maybe the apolitical subject matter was a way for the director to get around wartime restrictions and censorship. The film opens ominously with an exultation for the “100 million to carry the burden for bereaved households” (i.e., homes whose sons have died in battle), but the story thereafter is completely war-free. The Noh-based story has similarities with Mizoguchi’s Kabuki-based Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), and while it does not reach those heights, it has its moments. Hanayagi Shotaro repeats his lead performance from the stage version, where it became one of his signature roles.

Kitahachi, a young Noh actor from Tokyo poised to take over from his illustrious father, humiliates an arrogant country actor in Ise to the point of suicide. The town is actually happy to get rid of the disliked actor and thanks Kitahachi, but the horrified father disowns him and orders him never to perform again. With no other skills, Kitahachi scratches out a living as a nagashi, a troubadour of sorts who wanders among houses and shops with his shamisen and sings in exchange for money. His superior style attracts the eye of another nagashi with lesser talent but better PR ability. They join hands and prove a successful pair.

Kitahachi, however, is haunted by guilt over the suicide – quite literally, as he is followed by the victim’s ghost. His partner reveals that the victim’s daughter Osode was sold and now serves as a geisha at his sister’s business. Osode is struggling due to her inability to play the shamisen, which makes her unattractive to clients. Kitahachi sees a chance to atone for his role in her father’s suicide. He rushes to her and, without revealing his identity, offers to secretly teach her Noh-style dance. They arrange to meet in a deserted spot in a forest, where they devote a week to intense training.

Later, she is being berated by clients, who had hired a geisha with the natural expectation that she would play the shamisen. The clients turn out to be Kitahachi’s father and uncle. Their conversation reveals their difficulties since the son left. They naturally are not aware of the girl’s relation to the dead man. Reluctantly persuaded to watch her dance, they are astounded when she performs a flawless version of the Noh classic Matsukaze in their unique style. As she could only have been trained by someone from their school, they instantly realize that this means Kitahachi. The son, who has been watching covertly from the garden, appears and assures them that Osode knows their whole story. The father immediately accepts her into the troupe, and there is a strong implication as the film closes that Kitahachi and she will marry.

Matsukaze has no evident relation with the theme of the film, chosen I suppose simply because it’s a popular piece. Yamada Isuzu is charming if a bit timid as the young geisha. (In reality, she was a fine shamisen player judging from her later appearance in Naruse’s Flowing.) Hanayagi and others showed their shinpa roots, which was fine with this sentimental material. The Noh scenes, especially in the forest, were unusually well presented. The camera angle from above, atypical for Naruse, gave the lessons in the misty field a notably dreamy quality in the film’s most Izumi-like touch. The piece is interesting as a rare portrait of the wandering nagashi. A slight but enjoyable film.