

Storyline: Meoto zenzai 1955 Toyoda Shiros award winner Marital Relations Meoto zenzai, 1955 is one of the directors many adaptations from literary works, this one from a novel by Oda Sakunosuke The film was quite popular with critics, and received both a sequel and a remake in the 1960s I recently viewed another Oda adaptation Firefly Light Hotarubi, 1958, by director Gosho Heinosuke Based on these two films, I seem to have trouble tuning into the correct frequency of the Oda adaptations, as their intended tone continuously escapes me Marital relations could be a nice starring vehicle for actress Awashima Chikage The plot line fits that purpose Awashima plays Choko, a daughter of a working class family, who makes her living as a geisha in the Japan of 19321933 Choko has just hooked up with Ryukichi Morishige Hisaya, the spoiled son of a rich family who leaves his sick wife and teenage daughter to be with her Because the new love interest comes from an upper class, he is not a practical sort, and cant really do any work So Choko returns to her work as a geisha and supports her man, which becomes increasingly difficult when the man starts spending all of her hard earned money There is certain universality to a narrative, where a hooker with a heart of gold meets the prodigal son There could be potential for both drama and comedy, but this never chooses one over the other Comically, the scenario brought to mind Billy Wilders Irma la Douce 1963, but the overall dark atmosphere and desperation of the characters stops this from being funny And for a drama this is really mismatched Awashima is doing her best as Choko, but Morishige Hisaya seems to be from a different film entirely Because of his hair cut, he appeared almost like a Tora san from hell, if Tora san was a cold hearted man who did not care for anybody but himself There is no balance between the two, and the husband is such a piece of work, that the audience isnt rooting for them to stay together Since they arent married, they arent forced to do that either I think there were lots of interesting themes that were under analyzed, such as Chokos troubles being a homewrecker, which are now and again mentioned, but get sidetracked whenever there is a more comedic scene Interestingly, the film features a sequence of amusing domestic violence It is amusing, because its the wife beating up the husband, thats amusing, rightAll in all, this film did not really work for me There are many better ones dealing with similar themes, whether they be comedies or tragedies The duration of two hours did not help the film either
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