Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro
(Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro)
With Hasegawa Kazuo, Yamada Isuzu, Fujiwara Kamatari.
Japan, 1938, 35mm, black & white, 89 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
A backstage musical cloaked in restraint and a funereal aura, Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro follows its titular musical duo—a shamisen player (Yamada Isuzu) and shinnai singer (Hasegawa Kazuo), respectively—through a cycle of ups and downs so turbulent that it casts the entire performing arts scene in a grim light. Though the onstage pair have collaborated since childhood, theirs is a complicated partnership replete with artistic disagreements and unacknowledged yearnings, all of which come to a breaking point with the introduction of a wealthy patron, Mr. Matsuzaki (Okawa Heihachiro), who yearns for Tsuruhachi’s hand in marriage. The breakups and reunions that occur send the narrative careening in a number of unexpected directions, including an underwhelming rural solo tour for Tsurujiro that descends into alcoholic stupor, but the film is at its best when basking in the chemistry of stars Yamada and Hasegawa, whose convincing musical performances are filmed with rapt and reverent attention. – Carson Lund
Part of film series
Upcoming screenings from this program
Anzukko
Mother
Sincerity
Summer Clouds
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Summer Clouds
The Stranger within a Woman
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Traveling Actors
Scattered Clouds
Scattered Clouds
Flowing
A Wanderer’s Notebook
Repast
Every-Night Dreams
Street Without End
Apart From You
No Blood Relation
The Road I Travel with You / Avalanche
