4K RESTORATION
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PREMIERE
Director: Kinuyo Tanaka
Runtime: 102 minutes
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese, Mandarin
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Full Synopsis
Returning to the director’s chair after five years, Kinuyo Tanaka collaborated with Natto Wada (wife and primary screenwriting collaborator of director Kon Inchikawa), to create the historical melodrama The Wandering Princess. Offered to Tanaka as a vehicle for Daei studio’s top star Machiko Kyō (Rashomon), the ambitious project—her first film in colour and widescreen–allowed her the opportunity to expand the scope of her artistic vision in terms of production scale and expressive possibilities.
The film is an adaptation of the best-selling autobiography of Saga Hiro, a Japanese aristocrat who was married to Pujie, the younger brother of the last Chinese emperor Puyi, thus becoming embroiled in the colonial politics of the Japanese empire in Manchuria. By affirming the individual determination of her protagonist to overcome the hardships of war and displacement, Tanaka disrupts the typical narratives of female victimisation and helplessness that dominated post-war cinema of the 50s and 60s.
Retrospective: Kinuyo Tanaka is held in conjunction with Japanese Film Festival Singapore, and has been made possible with the generous support of the Japan Foundation.
For the full Retrospective: Kinuyo Tanaka programme, please visit here.
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