Pale Flower

Masahiro Shindo’s PALE FLOWER is set in the dark world of the yakuza (a type of Japanese mafia) and clandestine gambling dens, unfolding as a Japanese variation on classic American film noir.

Ryō Ikebe, als een Japanse Alain Delon het toonbeeld van koele elegantie, vertolkt yakuza Muraki, die na zijn vrijlating uit de gevangenis opnieuw wordt meegezogen in de criminele onderwereld. Daar begint hij een intense, zelfdestructieve relatie met Saeko, een gokverslaafde vrouw die hunkert naar steeds hogere inzetten om de leegte in zichzelf te vullen.

In addition to the iconic, high-contrast black-and-white images, it’s mainly the soundtrack that makes this film stand out. Avant-garde composer Tōru Takemitsu blends Western jazz with traditional Japanese elements, resulting in an oppressive, dissonant soundtrack. This tension is further heightened by the use of the Japanese card game hanafuda, which was mainly played among the yakuza and was often unknown even to the Japanese public at the time. Precisely because the rules of the game are incomprehensible to many viewers, a different kind of suspense is created: it is not through understanding the game, but through glances, editing, and music that you feel what is at stake.

PALE FLOWER belongs to the Japanese New Wave that emerged in the early 1960s and was characterised by visual experimentation and the tackling of taboo subjects such as crime, sexuality, and drugs. Although gangster and yakuza films were a popular genre at the time, none had the daring design or radical tone of Shinoda’s film. This was one of the reasons why the film remained shelved for months at Shochiku studio, which considered the nihilistic plot and explicit gambling scenes too immoral. The film was finally released in 1964, after which PALE FLOWER became a huge hit.

This film is part of Lucky Chance (27 Feb-1 Mar): a three-day film festival about humankind’s desire for gambling.