Story of a Prostitute (1965) User Reviews (16)

love and agony in the time of war

[LunarPoise · 6/10 · 2 August 2012]

Reviews of a Seijun Suzuki film tend to be dominated by discourse on the director's much-vaunted iconoclastic stylistics and Nikkatsu failure of vision in their treatment of him. While Suzuki's arrhythmic editing, bold use of effects, slow-motion, and emotive performances differentiate the film from the generic fare of the time, there is as much miss as hit regarding enhancement of narrative in Suzuki's helming.

Story of a Prostitute is about Harumi, a working girl cruelly dumped by her lover who takes vengeance by throwing herself into the grueling world of the so-called 'comfort women' servicing the Imperial Army in China. There she meets Mikami, an unreformed nationalist, and their ill-fated love plays out against a backdrop of WWII endgame.

Harumi is certainly a force, and her power, drive extremes of agony and ecstasy give her a powerful on-screen presence. She wails, uncontrollably, in close-up, a slow-motion shot no less, and the raw anguish is viscerally present. The fact that the situation she and Mikami find themselves in is hopeless drains the film of dramatic tension. The compensation is keenly observed characters who comment on their situation without finger-wagging. The absurdity of Japan's war effort is best captured by Ono, a deserter who takes up with the Chinese and preaches the 'dishonorable' credo that it is better to live. Officers spout that it is more dignified to die in battle for the Emperor, the irony being these are words spoken while sprawled drunk on the floor of a brothel. A Chinese prostitute whines that she is paid less than her Japanese counterparts. Soldiers drink, fornicate and hope they can make it to the next day. The landscape is almost lunar, begging the question of what, exactly, they are fighting for possession of.

The futility of war is an expertly painted background, but overshadowed by the melodramas of lives lived. Without Suzuki's unconventional approach this film would be quickly forgotten, but the camera movement, stark sets revealed in deep focus, and humanity and absurdity of the minor characters keeps this film fresh. Harumi is the embodiment of the will to live, if not exactly to live well. Having said that, the histrionics begin to grate after a while, and a stronger plot would raise this film to greater heights.

Neither a B-film nor a masterpiece, but simply another watchable outing from a unique filmmaker.

Articulates Taijiro Tamura's "nikutai bungaku", literature of the flesh

[kippikari · 8/10 · 29 November 2006]

Seijun Suzuki's portrayal of Taijiro Tamura's, "Shunpu den" articulates Tamura's philosophical notion that "nikutai koto ha subete da" (the body is all there is). Harumi attempts to flee the despair of her situation as a comfort woman in Manchuria by rejecting the ideological and the transcendental; notions that bind her future lover Mikami. Mikami, a solider for the Imperial Japanese army, despite his love of philosophy and ideas (in a time when outside thought was strictly forbidden), is bound by nationalistic virtues of honor and duty; virtues essential to the foundation of the Imperial Japanese ideologies kokutai (national polity) and tennosei (the emperor system).

Harumi, who wants to, "throw herself against as many bodies as possible", finds that she can only know others through the physical sensations of the body: physical pleasure, touch, and sex. Although she falls in love with Mikami, she is outraged by his devotion to the Imperial Will, which appears hypocritical. Consequently, this hypocrisy proves fatal for Mikami.

In the spirit of Tamura's philosophy, we are left with the notion that there is no honor in dying; that only in the struggles of life can one derive honor, and that nothing is more important than continuing one's existence.

Interesting anti-militaristic story about love and power.

[freakus · 7/10 · 29 June 1999]

Although it's not quite as satisfying as Suzuki's gangster films, I was drawn in by the power struggle for the loyalty of Mikami. Harumi (the prostitute) loves him and wants him to abandon his duty to imperial japan to run away with her. Narita (Mikami's commander) treats Mikami like a dog but knows he will never shirk his duties to the military. Eventually Mikami's foolish loyalty to the army results in disaster for himself, Harumi and even his battalion. Like "Gate of Flesh", this is also based on a novel by Tajiro Tamura.

New Wave war melodrama, with a heart of style

[chaos-rampant · 3 June 2009]

Presumably one of the "movies that didn't make sense" that led Nikkatsu Studios to promptly fire Suzuki after BRANDED TO KILL, in the process turning him into an icon of artistic defiance that inspired may, STORY OF A PROSTITUTE is at the same time a war melodrama, a rather conventional love story that you could see come out from Hollywood in the 50's, but also a Seijun Suzuki film. A genre director who slaved away from b-movie to b-movie working from scripts that had little difference from one to the next, Suzuki developed, out of artistic frustration with the trappings of cookie cutter studio film-making, an irreverent visual grammar which existed for its own pleasure. In his own way, perhaps unwittingly, he was making New Wave before most.

Here we find both facets of his work, a crowdpleasing genre film and a sumptuous celebration of a visual cinema.

But unlike stuff like TOKYO DRIFTER, or indeed Branded to Kill, films that often appeared to be little more than empty exercises in stylish bravura where the only reward possible for the viewer was a confirmation of Suzuki's bold, audacious approach, Story has a dramatic heart. The director approaches the love story between Mirakami, an orderly to an abusive adjutant who is brainwashed to docile acceptance of military authority, and Harumi, a passionate prostitute working a Japanese camp somewhere in Manchuria in the days of WWII, with sincerity and honesty.

In the same time he punctuates the main plot with set-pieces that truly dazzle with their inventiveness. Harumi running through a shellshocked battlefield to an injured Mirakami; Harumi's fantasy of Mirakami rushing in slow-motion through a white-washed scene to save her from the abusive officer. All this filmed in stark black and white, with fast tracking shots around walls and behind wooden panels, beautiful exterior shots of Manchurian landscapes which dwarf the figures walking them, intricate framing in depth and poignant symbolic touches that give an almost existential air to proceedings.

Well done and depressing.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 5 November 2013]

"Sunpu Den" is a film from director Seijun Suzuki is both anti-war and anti-prostitution, as it paints a bleak story of a young woman, Harumi. The story begins with Harumi being dumped by her boyfriend. In reaction, she volunteers to be a 'comfort woman' on the Japanese front lines in China. The comfort women were prostitutes provided by the government for the troops--and this small group of women are to satisfy the sexual needs of a thousand men! To make things worse, the Adjutant in charge is a brutal jerk who mistreats the women. Harumi hates him, though she later falls in love with this man's assistant. What happens next is a tragic waste of life and is an indictment of the Japanese war machine.

This is what you might call a 'feel-bad movie'. It is meant to be sad and awful and it is. The film is compelling viewing but isn't nearly as good as other Japanese anti-war films like "Burmese Harp" or "Fires on the Plain". Very good but not great.

Suzuki is a master of the medium

[zetes · 10/10 · 11 August 2005]

Most likely the closest Suzuki ever got to making a prestige film. It probably wasn't viewed as such at the time, as it was a remake of a movie called Escape at Dawn that was generally considered a classic at the time (it was scripted by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Senkichi Taniguchi in 1950). Story of a Prostitute seemed like a much more lurid version of the older film. Both were anti-war pictures, but Escape at Dawn was romantic and tragic. Story of a Prostitute is harsh and cynical. Its scenes are often comic, which clashes with the standard view of war. In an interview on the new Criterion disc, Suzuki, a veteran himself, says that he found a lot of black humor and absurdity in his wartime experience. All three of WWII-themed films I've seen from him, which cover the pre-war (Fighting Elegy), the actual war (Story of a Prostitute), and post-war (Gate of Flesh) periods all incorporate some level of absurd, black comedy. The three films actually make a good trilogy (the rest I've seen are all yakuza or crime films). Story of a Prostitute is a very powerful anti-war film, though it is lurid and not nearly as powerful as something like, say, Kobayashi's The Human Condition. Yumiko Nogawa, who also starred in Gate of Flesh, gives a fantastic performance. But it is, as usual, Suzuki's supreme visual skills – in black and white in this instance – that make the film a stunning and memorable experience. His artistic imagination in cinematographic matters is nearly unsurpassed in the entire realm of cinema.

I really need to see the restored DVD

[mjneu59 · 6/10 · 1 December 2010]

There's a strong indictment of Japanese militarism (and, by extension, male brutality towards women) in this melodramatic story of an army whore following the Emperor's troops into Manchuria. The strict code of military etiquette allows the long-suffering protagonist to serve enlisted men by day and only officers at night, one of whom (a sadistic, possessive martinet) becomes insanely jealous after she falls in love with a common foot soldier. The scenario often descends to histrionic overkill; at one point the heroine is seen running unscathed through a mortar and machine gun torn battlefield to be reunited with her lover, just before the two of them are captured by enemy troops. But director Seijun Suzuki compensates for the occasional over-plotting with some surprising stylistic tics and flourishes, although the ultimate effectiveness of the film has been sadly compromised by a deteriorated print, with often illegible subtitles. (Note: this was at a screening well before the advent of DVD technology, in Berkeley California back in the late 1980s)

A B-production triumphs over the A

[urashimaru2002 · 10/10 · 12 October 2005]

Based on a novel written by Tamura Taijiro, and is actually a remake of 1950 Toho film Escape at Dawn directed by Taniguchi Senkichi with stars Ikebe Ryo and Shirley Yamaguchi, director Suzuki Seijun transformed a Nikkatsu ready-made routine script with low budget and tight schedule into one of his finest arts. Without digressing from the script or the novel, he recreated his signature world that is abstractive and ideological. Even though this is a B-movie, or maybe because it is, Suzuki with the production designer Kimura Takeo displays fantastic backdrops using some painstaking techniques of visual effects, superb studio sets and location filming behind outstanding performances acted by Kawaji Tamio, Nogawa Yumiko and Tamagawa Isawo. Compare to the Escape that has altered some elements from the Tamura's original this Suzuki version is essentially true to it, therefore Suzuki version has quite important elements such as the prostitution in the Army, multiple stratum of knotty personae and complicated layers of grotesque psychological characterizations concomitant to their bizarre relationships all of that are omitted in the Taniguchi's "fine literary effort." Along with his sense of unique humor these deep feelings the film radiates might be inspired from his own war experiences as a soldier during the WW II and it could be said that, in this regard, some similarity might be in Samuel Fuller's, many of these films are also deeply affected by Fuller's own war experiences.

An Interesting Movie from an Historical Perspective

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 21 June 2015]

After being rejected for marriage by her lover, a prostitute named "Harumi" (Yumiko Nogawa) travels to a military outpost deep inside Manchuria to work in a brothel servicing soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. While there she meets an officer by the name of "Narita" (Isao Tamagawa) who treats her with contempt but is also quite possessive. Not long afterward she meets his orderly "Shinkichi Mikami" (Tamio Kawaji) who she quickly falls in love with. Unfortunately, Mikami is hesitant at first to return her affections because he knows that would make Narita furious. Meanwhile, the war rages on all around them. Now what I liked about this movie was the manner in which it showed the dark side of war. However, that also proved to be a weakness of sorts because at times it got too bleak. Likewise, the over-acting, typical of many Japanese movies, was a bit too much at times as well. In any case, although it's clearly a work of fiction there were some scenes which were based on historical experiences by the writer and because of that I found this to an interesting movie from an historical perspective. All things considered then, I rate it as slightly above average.

Very Gripping

[crossbow0106 · 9/10 · 23 August 2008]

This film centers on Harumi (the great Yumiko Nogawa), who is a "comfort woman" who goes to the Manchurian Front in China during the war to service the men fighting there. From the beginning you know she has nothing left to lose. As you would expect, this movie has scenes which are pretty brutal, including violence and rape. However, Mr. Suzuki makes this film's pacing so superb, you can look beyond this and just keep watching to see what will happen next. Harumi's reactions and expressions in this film are amazing, Ms. Nogawa gives a performance of a lifetime. You understand her struggle, but more so you understand her heart. She falls in love and you know its no lie. You want her to have some measure of happiness in what is depicted here as a very cruel world. Not everyone can watch this of course, its violent and its a war picture. But this film had me spellbound to the last frame, and that is a ringing endorsement.

An artistic contrast of beauty and war!

[dashesy · 10/10 · 26 May 2006]

I was surprised to see only few comments for this movie! I found it a quite amusing and worth watching foreign film. There are some beautiful b/w scenes, and the contrast of love and war that remember me of Eisenstein's master pieces. I am fond of the movies which show some psychotic aspect of human being, and this movie looks so real in depicting a prostitute's mentality, one who has lost her lover before and tries to keep some one for her in this lonely world. As the title suggests, the film is really about Harumi (the prostitute) and the war is another story happening at the background, although the movie is considered as anti-militaristic.

can't disguise a B movie

[hendersonhall · 2/10 · 30 April 2009]

No, not perfectly awful (that would rate a 1), but bad enough. I can't understand all the ooh's and ah's about what's no more than B-movie trash. Some good lighting, well-composed frames (along with, sad to say, some overly artsy ones), and nice camera movement can't disguise a bad script. The good-girl-prostitute-in love is laughably unrealistic; her supposed motivation, set at the beginning, and her desire to have sex with just about everyone in revenge for the man who spurned her is ridiculous, as is her love for the one soldier who can't tolerate her; the villain's snarling is out of the most overacted silent films; and the patriotic soldier (I won't give away what happens to him) who is supposed to help convey an anti- war theme is clunky. Want anti-war? Try All Quiet on the Western Front, Grand Illusion, and Cross of Iron! As for the title prostitute, it's the sort of nonsense men used to write about women, prostitutes and others; probably still do, but I no longer read it. The DVD's Japanese critic who talks about the film and director said that 90% is what the studio wanted from the director and 10% is the originality the director provided. I'll take his word for that, but 10% isn't enough to make gold from trash. Hmm. Maybe I should have given it a 1 after all.

An atypical Suzuki

[maisannes · 8/10 · 30 June 2003]

***Mild spoilers***

A much different movie from Suzuki's frenzied free-jazz yakuza flicks. Here he conforms more closely with traditional storytelling, though not without a few "reality breaks." The beautiful b&w cinematography is a far cry from the grittiness of Branded to Kill or the gleeful colors of Tokyo Drifter. Also, there is a great deal of sentiment here, and a more direct treatment of Japanese honor themes.

The Suzuki touch is still there though. Plenty of violence and sexual tension. There is a playful special effect "tearing up" the bad-guy adjutant early on, and some jarring wish-fulfillment/fantasy sequences. I was most impressed by the camera placements and movements, especially in the third act. The heroine's mad dash through the war zone at the hour point could stand side-by-side with any director's battle scene proudly. I seriously doubt that Arthur Penn saw this movie before Bonnie and Clyde, but when you see the farewell shots of the two protagonists, you have to wonder....

8 out of 10

A trojan horse from Suzuki

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 15 November 2023]

"Why did they only bring back the machine gun, leaving him there?" "Because the machine gun is the Emperor's property."

What starts as a "story of a prostitute," one steeped in troubling historical revisionism and bits of fantasy, eventually transforms into a critique of the Japanese army's code of honor during WWII, a brilliant little Trojan horse of a maneuver from Seijun Suzuki. He also shows a real flair with quick editing and simple video effects, the sound design is haunting and practically channels the collective national guilt from these years, and Yumiko Nogawa delivers an absolute powerhouse of a performance. She plays a prostitute at an army camp out on the barren landscape in China, one who a high-ranking Adjutant takes a liking to in his brutal way, and who in turn falls for his aide.

The depiction of the use of "comfort women" by the Japanese army is far from enlightened, which is off-putting to say the least early on. The elephant in the room of course is that here they are almost all Japanese and present voluntarily, not women across other Asian countries forced into sexual slavery, as hundreds of thousands were. We see one prostitute who we can infer is Chinese, but her only hardship is that she's usually paid less than the others. I was on edge and all set to rip this film to shreds because of this (and could certainly understand why someone else might still go ahead and do that), despite it being a very touchy subject to this day in Japan, much less in 1965, probably making it hard to do more as a filmmaker.

Don't expect realism in how the prostitution itself is depicted either. Early on we hear soldiers yukking it up over 13 prostitutes serving the sexual needs of an entire battalion, and know it's going to be a bumpy ride. The prostitutes are all looking to get married, with the main character saying "I want to meet many different men." The Adjutant, despite being a complete brute, is apparently good in bed, as we see her look of rapture mixed with guilt as he goes down on her, and another prostitute testifies to his sexual prowess. Talk about male fantasy. Meanwhile when she gets round to seducing the aide, her eyes are full of adoration after their first time together, which is a contrasting fantasy, to make a woman's heart feel so strongly.

Despite all that, where the film then goes with the story is a critique of militarism and the rigid honor code of the day. It highlights the ridiculous unfairness of the soldier's code of conduct that expected death before capture, and barring that, suicide, and barring that, a court-martial and execution (if they escape, that is). It's a fantastic moment when a few soldiers refuse to shoot another in this predicament, amidst the outset of an enemy attack and the swirling winds. The inversion in the observation from one of the prostitutes that "Living is difficult, dying is cowardly" is too. Through the intellectual character Uno, a guy who just wants to read his philosophy books, the film also criticizes both the invasion of "vast" China to begin with, as well as a country that would prohibit its citizens from freedom of thought ("To the country that doesn't allow an Ideal, farewell").

Suzuki isn't overly showy with his effects, but this film has quite a lot of style, something I liked about it. We see moments of character's imagining things, like when the main character fantasizes someone walking in on her and the aide and having his body fracture apart like a torn photograph. He gives us slow motion effects to intensify feeling, and that fantastic dash out onto the battlefield that leads to moments where all the sound stops.

If for nothing else though, watch this for Nogawa's passionate performance. It's crazy to think she doesn't have a deeper filmography after seeing this. She shows incredible range, with her fierce eyes expressing such defiance in that scene where she vows "You watch. I'll make your power go to shreds." The look of vulnerability she gives over her shoulder in front of a mirror after the Adjutant has followed informing her of devastating news with a demand that she bring him sake is also brilliant, and there are many others.

Probably a controversial film, but I ended up liking it.

Melancholy tale from a master

[martinpersson97 · 10/10 · 30 March 2024]

This incredible autueristic film, by one of the very best, Suzuki - is definitely a highlight in an ever impressive filmography and career.

The actors all do an incredible job, and it is indeed a rather career defining and overall splendid and thrilling affair - very emotional and sublime. The script is just incredible, very unconventional, emotional, and expertly written and paced. One for the ages.

The cinematography, cutting and editing is very unique, very much in line with the director's style, and overall immensely beautifully put together.

Overall, definitely a masterful achievement, that is definitely recommended for any lover of film! As one would expect from such a stellar director.

Less Than Second Rate!

[net_orders · 3/10 · 21 September 2016]

Viewed on DVD. Subtitles = three (3) stars. Director Seijun Suzuki's Jidai-Geki genre anti-war film set during the second Sino-Japanese War (in mid Twentieth Century) is a ludicrous photo play attempting to illustrate the ludicrous nature of war. The plot is about a professional sex worker (who is not a "comfort woman") in Northern China pursuing (literally--all over the screen including in the middle of military maneuvers and in the midst of battles!) a Japanese mid-ranking soldier (who is a reluctant lover at best). This is a prostitute who works out of a Japanese brothel (which seems to be worker owned and operated) consisting of about a dozen women. They are supposed to be the only sex workers in the region with each servicing, perhaps, up to a hundred military clients per 24 hours! The Chinese fighters are depicted as the "good guys" and the Japanese mostly as brutes (the exceptions being those who desert and those who will not execute the prostitute's lover who had returned (he was actually dragged by the hooker through war zones) to base camp as an injured combatant instead of following military protocol and killing himself in the field when wounded). After about 90 minutes of this repetitious nonsense, the protagonists engage in the "traditional" lover's joint suicide (which does not come soon enough for bored viewers who are still awake!). The Director does not appear to be in control of his actors and actress--they seem to have been given Carte Blanche! Whatever the reason, acting is across-the-board terrible or nonexistent--it's amateur-night all round. Leading actress Yumiko Nogawa delivers a 1.5 dimensional character with back-and-forth "acting" that ranges from phony sobbing to screaming. Cinematography (wide screen, black and white) is okay, but some scenes are on the dark side (which subtracts rather than adds to the drama when the viewer really needs to see what is going on---starting with the opening credits). Interior scene continuity is sometimes missing. The back lot exterior set looks patently phony. Special effects (mostly explosions and a bit of rear-screen projection thereof) are good. Subtitling is incomplete. Some signs are not translated. Almost all singing (of which there is quite a lot and often integral to the story line) is not subtitled. As usual, Criterion's DVD menu makes it difficult to easily determine if subtitles are turned on or off---seems to be a company tradition! Aggressive avoidance recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.