#104 - Double Suicide

#104 is another funny screwball comedy - ok just kidding - what do you think it's about?

Here we have a 1969 film adapted from a 1700's stage play - the actual start of the film show puppeteers and puppets getting ready in a modern day setting, and then when the story starts we transition to live actors - but in an interesting twist, the puppeteers are still present thru the film - manipulating people - moving them towards their doom, occasionally looking distressed at the events being unfolded, and possibly serving as a...metaphor that we are controlled by forces beyond ourselves?   Not sure about that but it's what I thought when I saw it.   Perhaps it's duty and obligation and tradition controlling these characters as much as the puppeteers

A young paper maker wants to save a prostitute, while not alienating his wife - (both women are played by the same actress, Shima Iwashita, who is ALSO the director's wife - which is another interesting statement with layers) - in the end the merchant and the prostitute run away and kill themselves so they can be together forever before she's bought by another merchant - and there's some family weaving in and out of the story

I struggled a bit to get into this one but got there eventually thru my love of most Japanese cinema from this period - I even went back and rewatched the intro where the actor SEEMS to see their bodies like on the cover, at the bottom of a bridge with the puppeteers - there's just a bit of surrealism in this and the sets are more stagelike than other sets but it was a fine film overall