Kingo
Shimura is sort of like a one-man 47 Ronin. He even references them himself.
Unfortunately, Shimura outlived his times as well as his lord. The Edo Era is
over, but Shimura’s disgrace continues in Setsuro Wakamatsu’s Snow on the Blades (trailer here), which screens as a
selection of this year’s Japan Cuts, the Festival of New Japanese Film in New
York.
Lord
Naosuke Ii was a high ranking Shogunate official, who was too moderate in his
reformist and westernizing policies for some and too extreme for others. He
cracked down on high ranking nobles who opposed him, but left plenty of
disgruntled ronin at loose ends. In 1860, he really was assassinated during
Sakuradamon Incident. That was exactly what Shimura was supposed to prevent as
his recently appointed chief of security.
Disgraced
by his failure, Shimura is forbidden from committing seppuku until he finds and
decapitates at least one surviving assassins. Twelve of the ronin either
performed seppuku there on the spot, or were accounted for shortly thereafter.
That left five elusive assassins for Shimura to track. Unfortunately, as the
years go by, the fugitives die off through subsequent misadventures.
Eventually, the guilt-ridden Jyubei Sahashi is the only one still at large.
However, formalized vengeance taking is banned during the Meiji Restoration.
Throughout
all his tribulations and humiliations, Shimura’s wife Setsu loyally supports
him. Similarly, Sahashi is guardedly devoted to the next-door widow and her
young daughter, but he is incapable of committing to them, because he lives
looking over his shoulder. It is exactly those human relationships that concern
Snow more than hack-and-slash action.
Snow is a gloriously
old fashioned tragedy, boasting genuine emotional depth and historical sweep.
It also suggests a little bit of westernization is not a bad thing, while
recognizing the value of tradition. In fact, that tension helps make Snow such a richly humanistic
revisionist Jidaigeki film. Frankly, it is not hard to imagine Clint Eastwood
remaking it as an early 20th Century western.
As
Shimura, Kiichi Nakai is appropriately both stately and hardnosed. Yet, he just
knee-caps viewers in his tender scenes with Setsu, played with exquisite
sensitivity and warmth, by Ryoko Hirosue. Hiroshi Abe (perhaps too closely
associated with the Thermae Romae franchise)
is severely reserved, yet expresses considerable angst and regret as the outlaw
Sahashi. It is an impressive ensemble, especially including “Living Treasure”
kabuki and screen actor Kichiemon Nakamura, making his return to film after a nineteen
year hiatus as Lord Ii.
