Criterion never seems to have a shortage of lost/forgotten small/foreign gems to re-issue. For the purpose of this review it’s Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower, a story of obsession and duty that plays out in the midst of a Japanese crime syndicate. Front and center is Muraki (Ryo Ikebe), an old school gangster who has just finished his stint in the clink and is looking to reintegrate himself back in the business (you know, like that season of The Sopranos with Steve Buscemi). He has a wife back home (at least I think she’s his wife) who is loyal and lustful but also apparently fielding marriage offers from other male suitors because she is constantly threatening him with them. But to Muraki she’s old hat and he soon lays eyes on Saeko (Mariko Kaga) at the gambling table, and soon it is obvious that he cannot think about anything else.
The problem is that like every other girl out there there is a lot more to Saeko than meets the eye. With huge, anime-like eyes and expressions of pure innocence her beauty does punch you in the stomach but her dark side is very pronounced and really the only thing that gets her going is flirting with the razor’s edge. She likes drug experimentation and driving her car as fast as it will go. Some have even said that there is no good reason to drive down a highway at 110 MPH, she would wholeheartedly disagree. And while on some level these behaviors repulse and terrify Muraki they are also what bring him in closer. She asks him to get her involved in a high stakes card game and he does just that. Unfortunately that leads to an extra long scene with her sitting around with stuffy businessmen while they play a game that I simply do not understand. Is she winning? Losing? I guess who cares because the whole point is that also in the room with her is this hardened criminal who is made soft and protective despite himself. He checks in to make sure she is comfortable with the game they are playing, he worries about the mysterious man sitting in the corner, basically he is playing an overprotective father.
Muraki, never short on odd relationships, also has a friendship of sorts with a man who early on in the film tries and fails to kill him in a bowling alley and then spends the rest of the time trying to make amends. He cuts off his finger and sends it to Muraki. When that doesn’t work he just resorts to low grade stalking, hanging around his place, striking up conversation, until eventually they are on somewhat friendly terms. The plot takes a turn when one night when the game is busted up by the authorities and Muraki and Saeko are only able to escape because they pretend to be a bland married couple caught up in all the excitement. It is funny because it is ironic, but it is also the only time he gets to share a bed with her. After that Saeko fades deep into the background and Muraki refocuses his attention on his work though like him we the audience never really forget about her. When his gang needs a volunteer to play a deadly game of tit for tat he is all too eager to jump at the chance even though he knows that it will result in another lengthy jail sentence for him. He gets his affairs in order and then begins to recruit Saeko to come along for the ride. It is not made explicit but one has to wonder if his eagerness to do the hit was directly related to him seeing it as an opportunity to finally impress Saeko with just how dangerous he is. Of course things never go as planned, especially when dealing with that chick, and Muraki should have known better. He also should have been wise enough to recognize that it was precisely that unpredictability that kept drawing him back to her.
Their adventures that night serve as the de facto climax as a resigned Muraki makes one last effort to impress the girl who isn’t easily impressed. To bring this film into the modern conversation I would say that it slants slightly in the direction of cultural vegetables though it is not without it’s populist charms. The Shakespearean ending is really too much to bear (Opera music?) and the exploration of Japanese mob politics runs too deep for it’s truncated running time but when this film connects on an emotional level it does so beautifully. Also, remember, this is a movie about organized crime, what is more crowd pleasing than that? It is buried under an avalanche of grandiose cinematography and long stretches of acute boredom, but we aren’t that far removed from The Godfather here. Still I would give this film a tempered endorsement mainly because I feel as though what it has to say overpowers how it says it. It’s a movie for lovers, for anyone who has ever allowed their life to go astray because of an irrational infatuation with somebody or who has held on to a romance for years despite the fact that it never actually blossomed.
Of course the real reason to spend the extra money on the Criterion Collection Blu-ray is the fancy extras that they throw in. You get all the basics, of course, original trailer, essay, improved subtitles, etc. The prize here, I think, is the audio commentary by Peter Grilli, who comes at the task with a hulking intellect and used his time to really open the film up to me. My only gripe, and I’m not even sure if it is a gripe, is that he only did selected scenes as opposed to the whole movie. There is something about that that strikes me as incomplete, what did he think about the rest of the film, but I am aware that it allowed him to concentrate his ideas into those few short scenes.
As always price is an issue because if it wasn’t the decision would be simple, you should own everything Criterion has ever put out. It is certainly a must for people who are into this genre or films from Japan but for everybody else I’m not sure it warrants the price. My advice might be to check out the older release of the film that is available on Watch Instantly on Netflix and if you like what you see there then splurging on this edition makes total sense.
Criterion Collection presents Pale Flower. Directed by: Masahiro Shinoda. Starring: Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Chisako Hara. Written by: Masaru Baba and Masahiro Shinoda based on the novel by Shintaro Ishihara. Running time: 96 minutes. Rating: NR. Released on Blu-ray: May 17, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
