Enjo
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| Enjo | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kon Ichikawa |
| Written by | Kon Ichikawa Keiji Hasebe Natto Wada from a novel by Yukio Mishima |
| Starring | Raizo Ichikawa Ganjiro Nakamura Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Music by | Toshiro Mayuzumi |
| Cinematography | Kazuo Miyagawa |
| Distributed by | Daiei |
| Release date(s) |  March 20, 1965 November 16, 1958 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
Kon Ichikawa's Enjo, released in 1958, was adapted from the Yukio Mishima novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and stands as one of his better known films. Also known as Conflagration, the film has come to be best known by its Japanese title.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Told in an intricate flashback structure, Enjo dramatizes the psychological collapse of Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), a young Buddhist acolyte from a dysfunctional family arrives at a Kyoto temple - the Golden Pavillion - for further study.
Goichi is haunted by two events - the discovery of his psychologically abusive mother's infidelity, and the effect of the revelation upon his father, who suddenly falls ill and dies shortly thereafter. Shy and idealistic - and hindered by a stuttering problem - Goichi arrives at the temple haunted by his dying father's sentiment that "the Golden Pavillion of the Shukaku Temple is the most beautiful thing in the world.[1]"
In the wake of entering into his studies, Goichi is visited by his now-widowed mother, who unexpectedly states her wish that he strive to succeed in his studies, so that he might one day become the head priest at the temple. Under unexpected pressure from his irresponsible surviving parent, Goichi then must face a challenge to his own ideals upon discovery of the head priest's greed (the temple is being run as a tourist attraction, though an appearance of piety must be presented to outsiders) and his indiscreet pairings with a local geisha.
A flashback (one of many within the entire film's greater structure) to the funeral of Goichi's father introduces the idea of a cleansing infreno; with an escalating sense of desperation, Goichi sets fire to the pavillion, is subsequently repudiated by his mother, and ultimately commits suicide before being taken to prison.
[edit] Production
[edit] Response
[edit] Themes
[edit] Notes
- ^ Svensson, pp. 15
[edit] References
Mellen, Joan. The Waves At Genji's Door: Japan Through Its Cinema, 1976. Pantheon, New York. ISBN 0-394-49799-6
Quandt, James. Kon Ichikawa, 1982. Cinematheque, New York. ISBN 0-9682-9693-9
Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Cinema, 2001. Kodansha America, New York & Tokyo. ISBN 4-7700-2995-0
Svensson, Arne. Japan (Screen Series), 1971. A.S. Barnes, New York. ISBN 0-498-07654-7
