Port of Flowers Hanasaku Minato
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Retrospectiva de Keisuke Kinoshita Port of Flowers Hanasaku minato B&W / Standard / 1943 / 82 min / Shochiku Cast: Director: Kinoshita Keisuke Shuzo: Ozawa Eitaro Script: Tsuji Yoshihiro Tomekichi: Uehara Ken Based on a play by: Kikuta Kazuo Okano: HiGashiyama Chieko CinematoGraphy: Kusuda Hiroshi Nobatama: Ryu Chishu Art Director: Motoki Isamu Hayashida: Tono Eijiro Music: Abe Sakari Okuda, villaGe chief: Sakamoto Takeshi Ryoji, his assistant: Hanzawa Yosuke Producer: Endo ShinGo Oharu, Ryoji’s sister: Mito Mitsuko Setsuyo: Maki Fusako Yuki: Murase Sachiko SettinG: A small island in Kyushu in 1941 Synopsis: A patriotic comedy about two con men arrivinG suddenly to work a scam on the inhabitants of a small Japanese island just as the nation beGins its entrance into World War II. The men claim to be the orphan sons of Watase Kenzo, who had come to the island and initiated a project to construct a shipyard 15 years prior. He left with the project half-completed but is remembered with Great fondness by the mayor and the Group of people who hold the most influence on the island, includinG Nobatama who runs the horse and carriaGe shop; Hayashida, the boss of the fishermen; and Okano, the owner of the inn. Okano had once chased Watase all the way to PenanG, still to find her love unrequited. Because of this history, she takes care of the two con men she has just met as if they were her own sons. The more experienced of the two, Shuzo, takes the name Kensuke (Watase), GivinG his partner Tomekichi the name Kenji. They announce their desire to revive the shipyard project, a proposal met with enthusiastic support from all but Hayashida, who is forever concerned with money. In the morninG Shuzo is workinG on the con aGain when he sees Tomekichi in a boat with Oharu, in whom he is to take a romantic interest. Shuzo calls him away and they are led to the site of the former shipyard project by Ryoji, a younG lad renowned as the island intellectual from havinG spent 2 years at technical colleGe in Fukuoka City. In due time, they beGin raisinG money for the shipyard. When the con men count it, the 1 Del 23 de octubre al 4 de noviembre en Cineteca Nacional Del 30 de octubre al 11 de noviembre en Cineteca Nuevo Leon Retrospectiva de Keisuke Kinoshita amount is so hiGh that they Get scared and talk about fleeinG immediately. In that moment, Tomekichi sees Oharu by chance washinG a basket and has second thouGhts. A woman with a small Girl arrives to stay at the inn. She is Yuki, Watase Kenzo's widow, and the child is their (real) dauGhter. She and Okano had fouGht over Kenzo in PenanG, and Okano teases her sayinG that it seems Kenzo had a wife before her, as his two much older sons are presently here in the inn. She tells Yuki she will allow her to stay for a while, as lonG as she keeps her connection to Kenzo secret. Meanwhile Shuzo prepares to leave the inn to flee on a boat to NaGasaki, under a pretext. He Gets antsy waitinG for Tomekichi, while in the meantime Ryoji is called back to the villaGe office on urGent business. Shuzo worries what this miGht be and when Tomekichi finally returns, the two become fearful that they have been found out. It is revealed that the real reason is Japan's entry into the war. They decide that under such circumstances, they won't manaGe to run away surreptitiously. Hayashida talks about money aGain to the mayor, Nobatama and Okano. He is concerned of any ship they construct beinG hit by an enemy submarine and what would become of the investment made by the stockholders. He wants the money returned while there is still time. Nobatama accuses his stance as unpatriotic and Nobatama's view carries the day. Ryoji arrives to brinG the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They beGin buildinG a boat, and the war proGresses, with places like SinGapore and Java fallinG to the Japanese army. Shuzo and Tomekichi Get cauGht in a rainstorm which leads them to take shelter where Yuki and her dauGhter are stayinG. Yuki is out, and the dauGhter inadvertently reveals who her father is. When Yuki returns home, they confront her about who she is, callinG her "mother" and then leavinG. The storm worsens and later in the niGht, as the con men are tryinG to Get away aGain, they see Yuki collapse in the rain and rescue her. She beGs them to leave her and save the ship, sayinG it's more important than her life. RecoGnizinG the uGliness of their acts, the two men make a pledGe to one another to surrender as soon as they complete the ship. Finally the day of the unveilinG ceremony arrives. The two men are nowhere to be found. As Oharu bikes around lookinG for them, she suddenly comes upon crowds of villaGers runninG towards the beach. An islander’s fishinG boat has been hit by the enemy. Hayashida reacts to this with a chanGe of mind and says he will pay to make as many ships as possible. Okano and Yuki stand in front of the completed ship and aGree that Watase Kenzo would have been pleased. The final scene is of the two con men, repentant, lookinG back on their fond memories of the island, as they travel by boat in the custody of the island’s ubiquitous police officer. Notes: This is the first film of Kinoshita Keisuke, who had joined Shochiku in 1933, when it was still in Kamata. Port of Flowers was lauded and awarded as an accomplished debut. Unique touches include the unusual pairinG of experienced staGe actor Ozawa Eitaro as Shuzo with matinee idol Uehara Ken as Tomekichi, and the lyrical appearance behind an actress deep in recollection of the foreiGn city in which she loved a man many years prior. Kurosawa Akira also directed his first film in 1943 (at Toho), and they were both to enjoy Great fame in Japan, despite the fact that Kinoshita did not achieve recoGnition internationally in the same way Kurosawa did. 2 Del 23 de octubre al 4 de noviembre en Cineteca Nacional Del 30 de octubre al 11 de noviembre en Cineteca Nuevo Leon Retrospectiva de Keisuke Kinoshita THE MORNING OF THE OSONE FAMILY OSONE-KE NO ASHITA Black & White / Standard / 1946 / 81 min. / Shochiku Cast: Fusako Osone: Haruko SuGimura Production Group: Ichiro Osone: Hidenosuke NaGao Screenplay: Eijiro Kusaka Taiji Osone: Shin Tokudaiji PhotoGraphy: Hiroyuki Kusuda Takashi Osone: Shiro Osaka Art Director: Mikio Mori Yuko Osone: Mitsuko Miura Director: Keisuke Kinoshita Issei Osone: Eitaro Ozawa Ippei Yamaki: Eijiro Tono Akira Sanenari: Junji Masuda Toward the end of December, 1943, the Osone family is holdinG a party for Akira, Yuko's fiance, who is about to leave for the front. But the celebration is suddenly interrupted when Ichiro is arrested for entertaininG political ideas forbidden by the state. Career soldier Issei, mortified, forces his niece to break off her enGaGement. Taiji, who had dreams of becominG an artist, is conscripted into the army, much to his mother Fusako's consternation. Issei and his wife, whose home has been burned out in an air raid come to live with the remaininG Osones and soon take over their lives. The sad news that Taiji had contacted a disease at the front and died makes Fusako determined that her third son Takashi should stay at home, but her brother-in-law Issei Gives him approval to become a naval reserve cadet. Issei then arranGes for a marriaGe between his niece and a war industrialist for his own profit, aGain aGainst the Fusako's will. In a dream she sees her son Takashi return home and is convinced that he has been killed in battle. Issei, sensinG the end of the war, beGins food profiteerinG which leads to the final showdown between him and Fusako, in which she forces him and his wife to leave her home. At the end of the war Akira comes back safely and marries Yuko, while the General Headquarters set Ichiro free and peace is at last restored to the Osone family. 3 Del 23 de octubre al 4 de noviembre en Cineteca Nacional Del 30 de octubre al 11 de noviembre en Cineteca Nuevo Leon Retrospectiva de Keisuke Kinoshita Woman Onna B & W / Standard / 1948 / 67 min / Shochiku (Ofuna) Cast: Director: Kinoshita Keisuke Hayashi Toshiko: Mito Mitsuko Script: Kinoshita Keisuke PhotoGraphy: Kusuda Hiroshi Machida Tadashi: Ozawa Eitaro Art Director: Hirataka Kazue Music: Kinoshita Chuji Producer: OGura Takeshi SettinG: Tokyo, Hakone, Manazuru, and Atami in the late 1940s. Synopsis: A GanGster accustomed to ruling those around him, Machida Tadashi drags off Hayashi Toshiko, a revue dancer whom he's taken a fancy to, to Hakone and Hamamatsu. Suspicious of him and his henchman and their possible involvement in a series of robberies, Toshiko jumps the train at Manazuru, only to be chased by a limping Machida. The two fiGht near the sea as Toshiko, blaminG him for her troubled life, beGs him to let her Go. Machida, complaininG throuGh tears how the cruel world has made him what he is, aGrees, but plays on her emotions enough to make her chanGe her mind. As the two hitch a ride on a truck, Machida convinces her to go to Atami with him, promising her he will go straiGht. In Atami, Machida is just about to sell a watch and some rinGs to Get the fare to Hamamatsu when the alarm is sounded for a nearby fire.