Twilight Story

東綺譚, Bokuto Kitan. Japan 1960. Directed by Shiro Toyoda. Starring Fujiko Yamamoto, Hiroshi Akutagawa, Eijiro Tono. 120 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Master director Shiro Toyoda tells a sad tale of doomed love and social restrictions in a country marching to war…

Harboring an abundance of talented directors with feminist inclinations, Japanese postwar cinema has highlighted the daily plight of working-class women like barely any other national cinema. Chronicling the hardships of bar hostesses, geisha and prostitutes, the most outspoken of these “women films” are arguably those situated in the pleasure districts of downtown urban areas.

Akasen eiga (Rotlicht-Filme) first gained popularity during the 1930s, most notably under the direction of legendary filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchj, but the subgenre didn’t fully florish until the postwar era with excellent directors such as Yuzo Kawashima, Mikio Naruse or Heinosuke Gosho locating some of their most distinguished works in Kyoto’s Gion or Edo’s Yoshiwara district.

Another, albeit much lesser known director of women films was Shiro Toyoda. A classically trained studio craftsman. Today, Toyoda is most famous for his expertly made adaptations of Japanese high-brow literature. Based on a novel by Kofu Nagai, Twilight Story is one of his masterpieces. Both, a sad tale of doomed love and a grim account of the social restrictions in a country marching to war.

Japan 1936: Feeling trapped in an unhappy marriage, school teacher Jumpei Tanada (Hiroshi Akutagawa) frequently visits the pleasure quarter of Tokyo’s Tamanoi district, an area directly across the Sumida river from Yoshiwara. There he meets Oyuki (Fujiko Yamamoto) who works as a prostitute in order to support her ailing mother. Soon Oyuki falls in love with Jumpei and gets lost in the fantasy of them living together. A delusional prospect: While Oyuki suffers from the outrageous demands of her family, Jumpei’s can’t seperate from his wife since his livelihood depends on the support of his spouse’s wealthy patron.

As many of the best Japanese postwar films, Twilight Story is imbued with a deep sense of geography and history. Toyoda uses the character of an elderly author in search for material to describe the changing landscape of Shitamachi, Tokyo’s bustling downtown area. Traditionally, Shitamachi is synonymous with entrepreneurship, full of small shops and street vendors, now, as this detached observer tells us, the streets are filled with prostitutes.

These vivid characterizations of decay Toyoda embeds into a bleak image of time. Japan is embroiled in militaristic policies. While prostitutes call out to their customers, marching soldiers dominate the streetscape. It’s no longer just breadwinning, now air raid drills as well have become part of the daily routine.

With his adept mastery of deep focus and elaborate widescreen compositions, Toyoda excellently combines this narration with visual imagery. One exceptional example has Jumpei talking to a fellow teacher. While the dialogue reveals the financial hardship of the two man, a military exercise takes place in the background thus allowing Toyoda to subtly foreshadow the impending war which would soon plunge Japan into chaos.

Amidst this extremely atmospheric description of 1936s Japan, Toyoda tells the story of two people bound by social restrictions. Jumpei’s conflict of heart is between social conformity and personal freedom. In an attempt to forget his dependence on the financial support of his mentor, he flees into the arms of Oyuki. While Jumpei’s decision to cheat on his wife seems dubious the very natural chemistry between the main characters and the brilliant acting makes one root for their relationship.

While Toyoda only hints at the sexual relationship of the two, the many long scenes the lovers share together are tender and mature completely free of the emotional superficiality of other romances. Their little room in the brothel becomes a refugium, a confined space shielding the couple from the burden of their lifes. But these moments are only temporary and in the end Jumpei will have betrayed Oyuki.