|
The Masseurs and a Woman (1938,
Jp.) (aka Anma to onna)
In writer/director Hiroshi Shimizu's light, slow-paced,
hour-long drama about 'blind' human interactions among guests and
workers at a resort spa:
- the opening sequence of the main characters: two
eccentric, blind masseurs - Toku (Shin Tokudaiji) and Fuku (Shinichi
Himori), hiking up a mountain road toward a resort spa, where they
worked during the high season (spring and summer); they made an
enjoyable game of keeping track of the number of people that passed
- the sequence of their first brush with a mysterious
and enigmatic Tokyo guest - an unnamed female client credited as
Michiho Misawa (Mieko Takamine), who was driven by in a carriage
on the road; Toku noted: "A nice woman aboard...A Tokyo woman....She
smelled of Tokyo"
- in the town: the two groups of hiking students (one
entirely male, one female)
- and the street scene when Toku (again with his extra-sensory
skills) stopped, turned, and wordlessly identified the Tokyo female
as a city inhabitant by her perfume smell as she walked by him
Toku's Identification of Michiho by Smell
|
|
|
|
- Toku's fascination with the "strange woman" Michiho,
but also his suspicions that she was responsible for a rash of
thefts at the resort after her arrival; to protect her from police
checking all of the inn guests, Toku warned her ("Run! They're
looking everywhere for you...It's a dragnet...You can't stay here.
Hurry!"), grabbed her and ran away with her (the camera angle
was on their shuffling, running feet at an increasingly faster
tempo)
- the revelation scene when he accused her of being
the thief: ("I knew from the start. Tokyo lady, you may fool
those who can see. But you can't fool me. Though blind, I've been
watching you. It's been hard. Run, quick! Go somewhere I don't know.
When the thefts occurred at Whale Inn and Goddess Inn, I tried hard
to trust you. The more I tried to trust you, the more certain I became
of it. So please run to somewhere I don't know"); she revealed
that she wasn't the thief, but was a fugitive from her lecherous
city patron: "You're making a terrible mistake...The whole thing
is ridiculous. But I appreciate your kindness. So I'll talk. I ran
away from Tokyo to these mountains. But not because of what you said...I
got disgusted with my patron. No, I should say, I felt sorry for
his wife and daughter. I'm sure he's looking for me. He'll look everywhere
for me. That's how he is. That's why footsteps frighten me. Your
eyes that could not see were too keen. You see too well....You tried
to help me run away, I appreciate it...I'll run somewhere. My lecherous
patron won't find me. I'll keep running"; he sank to his knees
and bowed his head to apologize for the false accusation
- in the conclusion, Michiho boarded a carriage to depart
from the resort - there were two quick cuts: her look back over her
left shoulder, and a view of Toku's sad face under his umbrella;
he ran down to the end of the street where the carriage had turned
right, and then he stopped; there was a paradoxical, shaky, hand-held
POV, unusual traveling shot from his perspective as he followed (with
his blind eyesight) the carriage as it turned left around a bend
in the road - for one last goodbye glimpse (the film's final image)
|
Blind Masseurs: Toku and Fuku Hiking Up Mountain Road
Michiho in Carriage
Two Groups of Hikers
Toku and Michiho Running Away (Low Camera Angle)
Accusatory and Revelation Scene
Michiho's Departure
|