From a Tender Girl to an Independent Woman – The Cinema Legend of Kinuyo TANAKA
by TONG Ching Siu
Young TANAKA
To the most fans of Japanese cinema, Kinuyo TANAKA was mostly known for her portrayal of gentle mother characters. It seemed that TANAKA’s screen appearance has always been a mother character or a mature woman. However, during the film festival, we are presenting Heinosuke GOSHO’s The Izu Dancer (1933) and Yasujiro SHIMAZU’s Okoto and Sasuke (1935) to show a young TANAKA. Coincidentally, both were first film adaptations from literary classics, the former from Yasunari KAWABATA, and the other by Junichiro TANIZAKI - the screen Muses of both films were performed by Kinuyo TANAKA.
Both films were considered the best versions of film adaptation so far, especially The Izu Dancer. The later versions which have been directed by Yoshitaro NOMURA (1954, featured Hibari MISORA), Yoshiro KAWAZU (1960), Katsumi NISHIKAWA (1963, featured Sayuri YOSHINAGA), Hideo ONCHI (1967), and the most popular version of Momoe YAMAGUCHI, which also directed by NISHIKAWA and co-featured YAMAGUCHI and her later-to-be husband Tomokazu MIURA. All these versions focused on the young romance and accommodated the love story to the commercial melodrama.
In contrast, GOSHO’s The Izu Dancer was backed up by a very talented crew. Not only did the director participate in the adapted screenplay, Yasujiro OZU, Torajiro SAITO, and the upcoming writer Akira FUSHIMI all collaborated in the adaptation. GOSHO specialized in comedy and melodrama. However, with the help of cinematographer Joji OHARA who brought the lyric tone to the film, the director was able to make a silent film into a fresh movie filled with musicality and poetry.
Actually the film ended in a sentimental atmosphere. In TANAKA’s career, the emotional love scenes in the film were rarely seen. This fulfilled TANAKA’s image. In fact, in SHIMAZU’s Okoto and Sasuke, which was shot around the same period, there were rarely any emotional performances.
In Okoto and Sasuke, TANAKA portrayed Okoto, a spoiled blind daughter of a wealthy family. Her loyal servant Sasuke takes care of her, and even becomes a slave who worships her. Okoto teaches Sasuke Shamisen, but has no patience, frequently lose her temper, shouts at Sasuke, calls him names and ignores his sadness. The character was similar to the nature of TANAKA’s “progressive woman” image afterwards and fully displayed the figure of a strong woman on screen. However, Okoto and Sasuke was nevertheless a touching love story. When Okoto refused a wedding proposal, she was disfigured out of spite by the proposer. That was when she finally admitted her love for Sasuke. But to make sure he never sees her disfigured face, she will always cover up her face.
The most emotional plot of the film is, in order to stay with Okoto, Sasuke blinds himself, and the two finally lived happily ever after. Young TANAKA’s character transformed from a indulging to an affectionate woman that gave her abundant space to bring her performance into full play. And Okoto’s persistence and integrity towards music in the film also foreshadowed the resolute and steadfast female characters that TANAKA will portray in her future career.
Strength of Tenderness
Another selected film is The Munekata Sisters (1950, directed by Yasujiro OZU). This film was of great significance because of a sensitive period in the relationship between Kenji MIZOGUCHI and Kinuyo TANAKA. According to Mas TANAKA’s notation in the book Ozu Yasujiro Shuyu, the collaboration of TANAKA and OZU was built on the film Koibumi (1953) where OZU supported TANAKA’s directorial debut.
MIZOGUCHI openly opposed TANAKA’s transforming to be a director. Mas TANAKA stated, although it seemed that MIZOGUCHI was concerned about her, “If TANAKA was failed to be a director, it would jeopardize her actress career.” Actually, it was a complex motive to monopolize TANAKA’s career and compete against OZU at the same time - MIZOGUCHI was more renowned internationally than OZU, but the latter has always been ahead of MIZOGUCHI within Japan, and OZU was a man of amiability and integrity. There was a definite cause of the break-up between MIZOGUCHI and OZU after the 1954 film Uwasa No Onna.
Talk abot The Munekata Sisters, OZU employed TANAKA’s independent characteristic as the on-screen representative to his films. First of all, The Munekata Sisters was OZU’s first collaboration with Shintoho Films after his split-up with Shochiku. On the other hand, The Munekata Sisters was of great significance to TANAKA as well.
It was January 19th, 1950. TANAKA just returned to Japan after a three months trip in the U.S. She returned the greeting to MIZOGUCHI and media with blowing kisses and a series of “Hello”. This made her lose the support of her fans because the Japanese believed that she has been occidentalized. The Munekata Sisters (and MIZOGUCHI’s Oyu-Sama and Musashino Fujin in 1951) started a series of “Return to Japan” PR in time. She portrayed the 100% traditional Japanese woman characteristic again, which ultimately diminished the impact of “blowing kiss” event.
In The Munekata Sisters, OZU employed TANAKA as a spokesperson to express his own aesthetics. There is a scene where the elder sister Setsuko played by TANAKA and the younger sister Mariko played by Hideko TAKAMINE have an intense debate over tradition and progress. The former loved the Kyoto temples and gardens, but the latter criticized that is obsolete and outdated. Setsuko responses “The truly new things will never be outdated”, this statement as a way to mock that what Mariko considered as fashion was merely transient.
In the film, Setsuko constantly made her decision out of the conventions. In the first place, she refused her sister’s suggestion of getting back together with her ex-lover. After Mimura (her husband) died, she manifests that she would rather be alone under the shadow of the deceased. Behind her tenderness, every word she said clearly expresses her viewpoint just like TANAKA in real life. Even when she was coated with the image of a traditional Japanese woman, she was still an independent woman who determined to become a director.
Kinuyo TANAKA was definitely a glamourous actress and director.