Goichi Mizoguchi returns to the Temple of the Golden Pavillion, that his, now deceased, father was acquainted with. The head priest takes him in, in hope to find a successor. His mother soon arrives to try and help him, but Goichi rejects her, due to her infidelity. Goichi becomes friends with the crippled Tokari, who insists he makes the priest angry.
Kon Ichikawa is one of those directors which I would watch more of his films if they were available. 'Tokyo Olympiad' is one of my most wanted to see films, but the only version I can watch, is a Criterion DVD selling for over $100. In the meantime, I decided to watch this little known film from his golden 1950s classic period, which includes the devastating war films 'The Burmese Harp' and 'Fires on the Plain'.
'Conflagration' is proof that there are amazing films hidden in the depths of Japanese Cinema. It's a film that no-one has ever spoken about, and isn't on any best of film lists (except it's number 124 on the Kinema Junpei's top 200 films, 2009 list). I watched it because it starred Tatsuya Nakadai, Japan's finest actor, and is directed by Kon Ichikawa, a brilliant director from the films I have seen of his. Turns out the film is adapted from a novel by Yukio Mishima, and that I had already seen an adaptation of the story in Schrader's 'Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters'.
The film is riveting and exciting throughout. While watching it, it's clear the film has a tragic atmosphere. It's obvious that something bad will happen, but it's unclear what it is (unless you look up conflagration in a dictionary, which is a spoiler). The feeling of an inevitable disaster is achieved by the protagonist, Goichi, being a misunderstood character, that never does anything good. He treats the stutter as a curse, and refuses to speak due to his embarrassment. Instead of conquering the defect like most films would have ('Like Stars on Earth'), he is tormented and teased until he is, mentally, pushed over the edge ('Klass'). It may not be the only thing that got him into the negative mind-set, but it's the most shocking and hard-hitting. It's like the anti-'The King's Speech' in that aspect.
Goichi is a character which wouldn't prevent something bad happening, but would watch from a distance, a point which Kon Ichikawa shows clearly. His timid and desperate personality is acted authentically by Raizo Ichikawa (no relation to Kon), most known for his acting in the 'Shinobi no Mono' ninja films. Every other character in this film is unsympathetic including Tokari, played by Tatsuya Nakadai, who returns to playing an evil cripple ('Immortal Love'), a role he is flawless at.
The visuals remind me of Kinoshita's 'Immortal Love', where the outdoor scenes are stunning and the indoor scenes are framed well, and have a great use of lighting. The excellent lighting made me notice that Ichikawa has a tendency for sweating characters, especially during the more intense scenes. Despite this, Ichikawa lacks any auteur trademarks, that make Imamura and Oshima masters.
Overall I would definitely recommend watching 'Conflagaration'. It does the opposite of what so many films do ('Red Beard'), and it does it fantastically. Oh yeah, it also features the strangest reaction to a miscarriage in film history.
TO CONCLUDE
Don't be put off by its obscurity, it's a great film from beginning to end.
SCORE
80
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