#Masakane Yonekura

[50watts]

from a reprint of the 1976 picture book Takeru by Masakane Yonekura

[anamon-book]

面白半分 1973年11月号 Half Serious Vol.24 Nov.73 五木寛之 編集 表紙絵＝米倉斉加年

[arterial-blues]

masakane yonekura

[byneddiedingo]

Tatsuya Nakadai in The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan (Masahiro Shinoda, 1970) Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Tetsuro Tanba, Shoichi Ozawa, Fumio Watanabe, Suisen Ichikawa, Masakane Yonekura, Jun Hamamura. Screenplay: Shuji Terayama, based on a play by Mokuami Kawatake. Cinematography: Kozo Okazaki. Art direction: Shigemasa Toda. Film editing: Yoshi Sugihara. Music: Masaru Sato. I think I was culturally ill-equipped for The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan, a wittily stylized film that presupposes an acquaintance with Japanese history and culture that I don't possess. From my own culture, I bring a knowledge of 18th-century portrayals of London lowlife, such as the pictures of Hogarth and the satire in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. Buraikan has echoes for me of those, as well as, in its portrayal of the puritanical reformer's zeal, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. But for much of the film I felt at sea. That said, I like Tatsuya Nakadai so much I'd watch him read the Tokyo telephone book. 

[peixebalona]

Masakane Yonekura

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[scenesandscreens]

Belladonna of Sadness (1973)

Director - Eiichi Yamamoto, Cinematography - Shigeru Yamazaki

"Your Ladyship, have pity!"

[ozu-teapot]

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo | Kihachi Okamoto | 1970

Masakane Yonekura, Toshirô Mifune, et al.

[tofuist]

米倉斉加年「子猫と赤い着物の娘」

[sewerhawk]

Dogura Magura Written by Yumeno Kyusaku Cover Art by Masakane Yonekura

[fujiwara57]

“Kitten and Daughter of a Red Kimono”, de

Yonekura Masakane 米倉斉加年 (1934 - 2014).

[50watts]

by Yonekura Masakane

[anamon-book]

最後のひと葉 オー・ヘンリー、有吉玉青・訳 米倉斉加年・絵 偕成社

[boudhabar]

Masakane Yonekura

[byneddiedingo]

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973) Cast: voices of Tatsuya Nakadai, Aiko Nagayama, Katsuyuki Ito, Shigako Shimegi, Masaya Takahashi, Natsuka Yashiro, Masakane Yonekura. Screenplay: Yoshiyuki Fukuda, Eiichi Yamamoto. Cinematography: Shigeru Yamazaki. Production design: Kuni Fukai. Animation: Gisburo Sugii. Music: Masahiko Sato. There are images of extraordinary beauty and sinister power in Belladonna of Sadness, but they are also mixed with Pop Art clichés; psychedelia borrowed from Peter Max and his acolytes, album covers, and the Beatles' film Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968); and kitsch reminiscent of greeting cards and nudie illustrations from back issues of Playboy. That is to say, it's a mixed bag. There seems to have been at some point an attempt to turn the film's fable into a feminist statement, but the link of the story of a violated woman who turns into a witch with the role of women in the French Revolution is tacked on unconvincingly at the film's end. Nevertheless, it's like no other animated film I've seen, and not just because its images have a striking, violent erotic content. The story is about Jeanne, who on the night of her wedding to Jean is subjected to the ruler's droit de seigneur, but not just to him: She is raped by his courtiers as well. Trigger warnings are appropriate at this moment, because the rape is signified by images of Jeanne being torn apart with a torrent of blood that fills the screen. Eventually, Jeanne is tempted by the devil (a terrific voice performance by Tatsuya Nakadai), who appears to her in the form of a penis (no kidding). She allows him to possess her body but not her soul, and through various episodes, including a harrowing treatment of the Black Death, she prevails, striking out against nobility and the church. At one point she "liberates" the peasantry by means of an orgy, a sexual fantasy that is both astonishing and sometimes hilarious. Eventually, she is caught and burned at the stake, but the implication is that, like her namesake Jeanne D'Arc's, her cause will prevail. The film's vision is ultimately incoherent, but its audacity is worth experiencing.

[peixebalona]

Masakane Yonekura