A LEGEND OR WAS IT? and WOMAN (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1963 and 1948)

My introduction to the world of Keisuke Kinoshita and two films I won't soon forget. A Legend or Was It? and Woman reveal a director relatively unconcerned with original or complex stories. Instead, Kinoshita takes two simple premises and shows his incredible ability to ratchet up the melodrama and insanity. Marked by a frenetic camera with intense close-ups and quick cuts, these films never really let up once the action is set in motion.

And that takes no time at all. In my limited repository of film knowledge, A Legend or Was It?, the superior of the two discussed here, might be comparable to something by Samuel Fuller, like 40 Guns. In 1945, a family (the eldest brother and sister shown above) escapes from Tokyo during the war to a secluded, insular village in the mountains. The village is safe geographically, but has felt the effects of war, relinquishing both men and food to the Japanese army. There is a mutual dislike between the new family, who find the townspeople hostile, and the townspeople, who seem to distrust outsiders from the city. The family does receive support from the mayor, whose son is set to marry their daughter Kieko. But when her brother, Hideyuki, who is returning from the war, meets the mayor's son, he recognizes him as a soldier he witnessed raping and killing innocents in China. Hideyuki tells Kieko, the wedding is off, and all hell breaks loose.

The two young woman at the center of the story- Kieko (Shima Iwashita) and Yuri (Mariko Kaga)-  dominate the film every time they appear on screen. They deliver amazing performances that propel their characters' vilification at the hands of the simple and pathetic men who surround them. Another  highlight is Kinoshita as an image-maker. The dynamic camerawork makes this melodrama quite a thriller. Kinoshita mixes intense close-ups with long shots that incorporate the beautiful landscape of the mountains the way great Westerns do. And lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the music, which I can only describe as if a drone artist appropriated carnival-type music (maybe like The Savage Young Taterbug?). It's bizarre and sometimes in tonal opposition to what's going on narratively, but it adds a distinct nightmarish quality to the film. This is really one of the best I've seen in some time.

Woman, though an inferior film, only added to my opinion of Kinoshita. The premise here is actually more bare-bones and the running time shorter (67 minutes). Toshiko, a dancer, gets asked by Tadashi, with whom she has a conflicted romantic history, to run away with him. Tadashi has just committed a highly publicized burglary and is already on the run. Toshiko at turns goes along with him and tries to ditch him.

Until an explosive conclusion, much of the film is just a back-and-forth psychological interrogation between the two, largely centered around whether Tadashi can really change his criminal ways (he can't). We're somewhat sympathetic because he says his problems all began when he returned from the war. Their interplay is engaging on a performance-level, but Kinoshita's formal inventiveness makes it extra noteworthy. The close-ups are even closer than those in A Legend or Was It?, as Kinoshita zeroes in on characters' mouths and teeth (alongside a peculiar interest in their feet). In the middle of dialogue, he will suddenly cut to shots of the sea (both of these films make good use of their location). And he uses some low-angle shots, especially during a musical performance, that are reminiscent of Orson Welles. Woman doesn't leave the same impression as A Legend or Was It?, but Kinoshita already strikes me as a filmmaker who struggles to make films that aren't worthwhile.