The Water Magician (滝の白糸 Taki no Shiraito)

“When the name Kenji Mizoguchi is intoned, every piece of camera equipment on earth should execute a deep bow.”

- Bruce Bennett, The New York Sun

Co-presented by Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

One of Kenji Mizoguchi’s earliest surviving films, 1933′s The Water Magician, is also one of Japanese cinema’s earliest independent productions. Based on the shimpa, or “new school”, stage play by Kyoka Izumi the film follows the theme of so many of Mizoguchi’s classic films – the tragic fall of a woman brought low by the pressures of Japanese society. Taki (Takako Irie) is the Water Magician of the title. She dazzles audiences with a performance in which she juggles water in her hands and makes it arch and dance across the stage. On a tour of the country she meets Kinya (Tokihiko Okada), a carriage driver. She is immediately drawn to this handsome, earnest man whose dream is to study law. The life of a carriage driver is a hard one though, so to help make his dreams come true Taki gives him the money for his law education. It turns out that the money wasn’t hers to give. It was owed to a ruthless loan shark, and to protect herself and Kinya Taki murders the loan shark. Pining for her lost love Taki unsuccessfully runs from the law, ends up being tried for the murder of the loan shark, and in a surprising twist of fate is reunited with Kinya who is her defense lawyer in the trial for her life.

Despite its tragic storyline The Water Magician is one of Mizoguchi’s most magical and visually stunning films. The film is all the more magical due to the performance of its star Takako Irie. At times playful, at times heartbreaking Irie truly does light up the screen with her presence. At only Takako Irie had already become one of, if not the, most sought after screen actresses in Japan. Such Golden Age directors as Tomu Uchida and Minoru Murata fought to cast her in their films, but in 1933 Irie used her power and influence in Japan’s motion picture industry to found her own independent company, Irie Productions, one of the first independent production companies in Japanese film history. It’s first production was Mizoguchi’s “The Water Magician”.

With our mandate of bringing the best of Japan’s independent film to Canada The Shinsedai Cinema Festival is proud to present Kenji Mizoguchi’s “The Water Magician” screened with live musical accompaniment by Toronto-based electro-acoustic musical experimenters Vowls.

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

Producer: Takako Irie, Yoshizo Mogi, Takejiro Tsunoda

Screenplay: Yasunaga Higashibojo & Kennosuke Tateoka (based on a novel by Kyoka Izumi)

Cinematographer: Minoru Miki

Cast: Takako Irie, Tokihiko Okada, Nobuo Kosaka, Bontaro Miake, Koju Murata, Yutaka Ohara, Koji Oizumi, Ichiro Sugai, Suzuko Taki, Kumeko Urabe

Released: 1933

Running time: 110 minutes

Screened with live musical accompaniment by Toronto experimental quintet Vowls.

Director’s Bio

Born in Asakusa, Tokyo in 1898 Kenji Mizoguchi is known as one of the masters of Japanese film. At the young age of 13 he bgan to study graphic arts at Aohashi Institute and by 16 he was working as an advertising designer in Kobe. After the death of his mother in 1915 he headed back to Tokyo, changing his career and joining Nikkatsu Studios as an actor, but due to a workers strike he was quickly elevated to director. Mizoguchi would direct nearly 30 feature films in his 27-year career including such undisputed masterpieces as The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff. He passed away in 1956 at the age of 58.

Actress/ Producer’s Bio

Takako Irie was born to royality in 1911 in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District. Her father., Isao Hisashi, held the title of shishaku, or viscount. Despite his status Hisashi’s later years saw his fortune dwindle and at the time of his death in 1922 he had left Irie and her family impoverished. After graduating from Bunka Gakuin University in 1927 Irie joined her brother in Kyoto where she began acting in Western-influenced Shingeki theatre. Discover by director Tomu Uchida she made the transition to motion pictures and superstar status. In 1932 she formed one of Japan’s first independent film production companies, Irie Productions. In the years and decades that followed Irie would star in films for such legendary filmmakers as Mikio Naruse, Yasujiro Shimazu and Teinosuke Kinugasa. Irie passed away in 1995 at the age of 83.

Band Bio

VOWLS is a psychedelic electronic group from Toronto who formed in 2008. They are avid music listeners and combine pan-global influences while embracing the visionary possibilities provided by modern digital and analogue technology. Their first EP, In Consonance (pt.1) was released on Blood & Water Records in spring 2010.