At the end of WW2 the USA occupied
Tokyo, it was a jungle, a place where you had to be prepared to kill or be
killed, a hot humid city were life was worth almost nothing. Poverty was rife
and starvation was the norm. It was populated not only by thieves and various
other low life but American GIs who made full use of the service that the
Japanese pimps and the working girls offered. Seijun Suzuki’s Gates
of Flesh (1964) is the story of Maya an outcast amongst outcasts who
has really no choice but to join up with a group of prostitutes who we discover
live in one of the many bombed out buildings that now form the skyline of this
once great city. The five girls form a close-knit community to support and
protect each other from exploitation by pimps and competition from rival
whores. This group has one rule: that none of the girls must give themselves
for nothing. A rule that is rigidly enforced, which Maya witnesses when one of
the girls is striped, has her hair shaved off and is left strapped naked to an
abandoned boat in the full glair of the burning sun.
Into this restricted group setting staggers
Shintaro, wounded after stabbing an American soldier and on the run from the
MP’s, he begs the girls to shelter him, which they agree to do for one night
only. But they soon develop an attachment for this rather lovable rogue and
allow him to stay. A decision that eventually leads to tension developing
between the girls, some of whom, including Maya, realise that their feeling are
beginning to transcend just friendship.
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| The Streets of Tokyo. |
Based on Taijiro Tamura’s best selling
novel this strong female oriented drama has now been adapted for the big screen
four times. Once in 1948 by Masahiro Makino followed by Shogoro Nishimura’s
version in 1977 and the latest in 1988, a big budget version directed by Hideo
Gosha and produced by Toei. None of which is said to rate as highly as Suzuki’s
movie, having never seen the others I am not in a position to compare the films
but what I can say is that this version is a very well crafted film, gritty and
realistic although actually filmed on the Nikkatsu sound stage. ‘The shooting schedule was so tight giving
precious little time to construct the sets they were slapped together on the back lot using materials purloined from
studio warehouses’[1] The acting is first rate especially Jo Shishido as
Shintaro and Yumiko Nogawa as Maya although it is reputed that most
female actresses at Nikkatsu refused to work on the film due to the nudity and
subject matter, so the cast's female roles were filled by actresses from
outside the studio[2].
The rather drab hand tinted colouring is contrary to the vibrant colours of the
four main prostitutes dresses, the naive Maya dressed in dark green, the
volatile leader of the group Sen in red, the comedienne of the group Roku in
yellow and the compliant Miyo in purple.
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| There's humour in all situations as Shintaro proves to the girls. |
This deep and meaningful, and in fact historical portrayal
of the hardships of post war Japan comes with a warning about some scenes that
may offend certain viewers. For example the sadistic flagellation scene where
the girls flog another young woman for breaking the ‘no sex without pay’ rule
in a lengthy torture segment, the graphic and bloody detail involved in the
slaughter of a stolen bull and the rather unpleasant ‘condom in the stew’ incident.
But hopefully you will not be put off
and watch what is a highlight of Japan’s varied and enjoyable cinematic
tradition.
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