Gate of Flesh (The Criterion Collection)
by Seijun Suzuki
List Price:
Our Price: $14.59
You Save: $15.36 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.97 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jo Shishido, Kayo Matsuo, Satoko Kasai, Tamiko Ishii, Yumiko NogawaDirector: Seijun Suzuki
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-26
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Gate of Flesh (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Brilliantly Symbolic Cinema Reaching Far Beyond the Tangible Realm...
Summary: 5 Stars
For the second time since the vanishing of the samurai in the later half of the 1800s, the Japanese society lost its highly militaristic society, but this time to ultimate defeat and chaos. The Japanese military was on the retreat when the Americans delivered the final punch through their dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man - the atomic bombs. Tokyo was in a sense more fortunate than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as they only had to deal with definitive destruction of firebombs dropped on the city. Nonetheless, in a heap of ashes and debris Tokyo reemerged through a chaotic mess where food, shelter, and clothing were something of a luxury. Within the bedlam of Tokyo, some people discovered that they had to find a way to survive despite the hardships. There were also those who found opportunity to make financial gains within the social confusion, as their dubious intentions sought profit of those less fortunate. Gate of Flesh by Seijun Suzuki provides a dark and dismal perspective of post-war Tokyo through a small number of characters portraying a large part of the Japanese society.
Suzuki opens with a shot of Maya (Yumiko Nogawa), a young homeless woman shocked by the sudden fall of the Japanese Empire, who aimlessly drifts with the constant flow of people. Her lost presence together with the raspy lyrics of a record symbolically presents the societal confusion of everything that has been lost to the devastating fire. The wandering eyes of Maya hunt for food, safety, and possibly belonging while dodging the dangers that lurk in the background. The law has no compassion for humanity, as it seeks the desperate survivors that have no other choice than to pursue illegal alternatives to survive. On the tiny mud-stomped streets cutting between endless rows of provisional huts, Maya witnesses the law enforcement forcefully apprehending some of the destitute women, but with little resolve, as arrest is to be preferred over starvation. Life has fallen, and the Japanese lifestyle has struck the very bottom, which Suzuki illustrates with the countless hordes of drifting homeless and starving inhabitants of Tokyo.
Eventually Maya's hunger catches up with her, as her morality can no longer control her fingers reaching for a meager meal. Inexperience in theft gets her caught, but a man extends his kindness by allowing her to eat her fill. However, it is a cruelly exploitive world, as she soon learns the true intentions of the man who plans to sell her body to lustful American soldiers. It is a rough and publicly humiliating initiation for Maya to the lower depths of the society where her redemption comes forward through the crimson red wearing Sen (Satoko Kasai). The first appearance of Sen provides a false description of her, as she looks like a blossoming flower among weeds. Her bright crimson dress is a strong contrast to the environment while her arrogance would fit a rich nobleman amidst filthy farmers. In essence, Sen attempts to put on a strong front, as she is also the self-proclaimed leader for a small gang of prostitutes to which Maya is introduced.
All the women, in Sen's posse of prostitutes, offer an analogous presentation of different emotional reactions of the Japanese society to the aftermath of the war. Sen, dressed in crimson, allows the mind to think of the fear and impulsiveness that many experienced. On the other side of the spectrum, the outsider Machiko (Misako Tominaga) steps forward in customary kimono and wooden sandals. Machiko's attire suggestively represents the disciplined and meditative past before the war, but she also permits the audience to think of the errors of the past. In between Sen and Machiko, the purple dressed Mino (Kayo Matsuo) represents self-loathing, maybe in regards to defeat, or perhaps of the current state of the nation, while the understanding and compromising Roku (Tamiko Ishii) is clad in yellow. The newcomer Maya easily adjusts to this devious group of la femme fatale, as she later symbolically emerges in the color green. Green evokes the notion of a corrupt soul and envy while May's desire for carnal passion intensifies.
These self-made women live under a strict dogma, which offers them protection and a steady income that provides the basic needs and group belonging. They have broken the chains of the patriarchal society and gotten rid of the middleman - the pimp. Sen educates Maya in their business while enlightening her in the principal rule, which they all must obey. It states, "Never give it to a guy for free. This is a business, and our bodies are our merchandise.", and later the audience will learn about the severe punishment for breaking their governing rule. Everything seems to run smoothly within the little carnal empire run by the women until the injured Ibuki (Jo Shishido) stumbles into their lives. Ibuki possesses a similar power over the women that the devil possesses over witches, as he commands the feminine creatures in their homely ruins. His presence stirs up the atmosphere with grave sexual tension, as most of the time Obuki seems to wander the screen clad in sweat and briefs while the desiring women observe his every move.
Historically, a tendency of territorial behavior has emerged through human existence, as it also provides an opportunity to secure the basic needs. This craving to extend the borders of the territory often leads to war, as Japan tried to expand its control of Asia. The expansionism often finds its foundation within greed, as gains trigger a desire for additional gains while also being able to control these gains. Suzuki brings this notion into Gate of Flesh where the women and Ibuki struggle for control while trying to extend their own influence over one another with dogmatic rules and sexual manipulation. Ibuki's presence creates a symbolic notion of the American presence in post-war Japan, as he exercises his domination over the women who metaphorically symbolize Japan. Thus, in this micro society Suzuki delivers a cerebral perspective of the carnal sins that govern these women's existence, which extends far beyond the realm of what is tangible.
Through the existence of Ibuki and the women, the cyclical concept of destruction and rebirth surfaces, as they are reaching the lowest point in their lives where the only logical direction for advancement is up. Applying this concept in a retrospective perspective to the release year of Gate of Flesh, the viewer will recognize that it coincides with the year of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. It offered the world a new glance of a once beaten, but now remerging nation, which learned from its consequences of defeat and ultimate destruction. Now some 50 years after the dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man, the Japanese society has risen out of its ashes to become an economical power nation. Nonetheless, Suzuki touches humanity as it reaches its nadir where compassion vanishes into an oblivious vortex of greed and selfishness in a time of anarchy. This artistically cerebral tale will undoubtedly generate contemplation, even though it takes the form of an exploitative B-film that seems to nourish from its heavy use of nudity.
Summary of Gate of Flesh (The Criterion Collection)
In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post?World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.Similar DVD Movies
Pale Flower (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2011-05-17; DVD
Best price: $15.76
Price in other shops:
Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara (Intimidation, The Warped Ones, I Hate But Love, Black Sun, Thirst for Love) (Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2011-08-23; DVD
Best price: $36.52
Price in other shops:
Fighting Elegy (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $16.10
Price in other shops:
Onibaba (The Criterion Collection)OTOWA,NOBUKO; Release date: 2004-03-16; Published: 2004-03-01; DVD
Best price: $17.89
Price in other shops:
ChushinguraImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-02-27; DVD
Best price: $11.24
Price in other shops:
Three Outlaw SamuraiImage Entertainment; Release date: 2012-02-14; DVD
Best price: $13.64
Price in other shops:
Tokyo Drifter (The Criterion Collection)Criterion; Release date: 1999-02-23; DVD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops:
Crazed Fruit (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2005-06-28; DVD
Best price: $11.15
Price in other shops:
Kuroneko (Criterion Collection)IMG; Release date: 2011-10-18; DVD
Best price: $18.57
Price in other shops:
Story of a Prostitute (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2005-07-26; DVD
Best price: $13.74
Price in other shops: