Shin Heike Monogatari (film)
| Shin Heike Monogatari 新・平家物語 | |
|---|---|
 Original Japanese movie poster | |
| Directed by | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| Produced by | Masaichi Nagata |
| Distributed by | Daiei Film |
Release dates | 1955 |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Shin Heike Monogatari (新・平家物語, lit. "New Tale of the Heike") is a 1955 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is based on the Eiji Yoshikawa historical novel Shin Heike Monogatari. It is one of his two films in color, the other being Princess Yang Kwei-Fei (Yōkihi) of the same year.
Critical reaction
Kevin B Lee found it a rather tentative attempt at color filmmaking and a self-conscious "prestige" picture, with Mizoguchi's usual themes present but at odds with the desire for spectacle and action of a samurai movie.[1] Eugene Archer considered the plot was "subordinate to the decor".[2]
Various critics have suggested that the film's setting in a politically unstable time and its concern with the transition of power reflect the situation of Japan in the 1950s, when the film was made.[3]
Cast
- Ichikawa Raizō VIII as Taira no Kiyomori
- Yoshiko Kuga as Taira no Tokiko
- Michiyo Kogure as Fujiwara no Taishi
- Eijirō Yanagi as Retired Emperor Shirakawa
- Hisao Toake as Kanpaku Fujiwara no Tadamichi
- Ichijirō Ōya as Taira no Tadamori
- Koreya Senda as Sadaijin Fujiwara no Yorinaga
- Naritoshi Hayashi as Taira no Tokitada
- Tamao Nakamura as Taira no Shigeko
- Kunitarō Sawamura as Jokū
References
- ↑ Lee, Kevin B (January 29, 2009). "952 (54). Shin heike monogatari / New Tales of the Taira Clan (1955, Kenji Mizoguchi)". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Archer, Eugene (September 21, 1964). "Movie Review Tales of the Taira Clan (1955) Beauty From Japan". New York Times. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ "Le héros sacrilège (1955) de Kenji Mizoguchi". L'Oeil sur L'Ecran. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.