As spring blooms around us, golf appears to be on television all week long. Seems like six different channels feature the hushed voices of the announcers as golfers line up the perfect putts with the hopes that the crowds will go wild for a few seconds. If you care to notice, every part of a golfer is a promotion. The amount of merchandise a golfer can promote ranges from golf clubs, spiked shoes and fashion. Tiger Woods has sold a lot of shirts and pants over his troubled career for Nike. A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness is all about what happens when a young female golfer in Japan gets caught up in her sponsor’s desires. The film was the first cinematic feature for director Seijun Suzuki after Nikkatsu fired him for making Branded to Kill in 1967. The studio blackballed him so that no other studio wanted to touch him for nearly a decade. It seems unusual that a director known for Yakuza films would be making on a film about a female golfer. But A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness is not an inspirational Disney sports movie.
A fabric company that has a women’s apparel line are needing a female sports star to become their new spokesmodel and fast. They’re freaking out because a new gymnastics superstar is coming to Japan to promote a rival. The company wants someone new and hot to promote them. The company’s advertising agency zeros in on a young female golfer Reiko (Yoko Shiraki) as the potential star. Problem is she’s only won a newcomer award. They need her to be a sensation if she will be launching their new fashion line. The head of the agency contacts Miyake (Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance‘s Yoshio Harada), a golf writer who has been writing about her. Turns out he’s also involved with her. The ad agency needs her to win the big ladies tournament in three months to make their plan succeed. They offer Miyake $3 million Yen upfront and $30 million Yen if she win. That’s a lot more than the magazine pays him for his articles. Miyake hires her the best golf trainer in Japan to intensively work with every part of her game. She commits herself to winning to the point where she bleeds on her clubs. Miyake also plays head games with her to get her focused on a single goal of the title. She does win in dramatic fashion that makes her known to everyone in the country and not just golf fans. That’s when the company controls her life and everything about her life spins out of control. They have her host a TV show that’s more about women’s fashions than golf. She is constantly promoting their brand. They move her into a new neighborhood with her younger brother. She gets more than one stalker. Miyake becomes an even bigger nightmare as her boyfriend-manager as his newfound wealth and power causes him to go over the edge. Is she ever going to get a chance to play in another tournament?
Seijun Suzuki really gets dark about what it takes to be a champion and what others will do to that champion. Miyake becomes a complete terror to her after she’s the champion. Things get wild when one of her neighbors goes from being her biggest fan to her biggest psycho. The last third of the film shows Suzuki getting experimental in his presentation. This includes the design of the house that the company rents for Reiko with a putting green in the middle and a rope leading up to her brother’s bedroom. It adds to the artsy nature when the film isn’t on the golf course. While you might not be sure why Seijun Suzuki would make a movie about a female golfer; after a few minutes you will easily recognize this is a Seijun Suzuki film. This does have a bit of the same vibe as Tokyo Drifter and Branded To Kill except instead of guns, you see clubs flash across the screen. A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness dips into the price a sports star has to pay to sell you their brand.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. You’ll see the grass in the putting green during close ups. The Audio is Japanese LPCM mono. You’ll want to be as quiet as a golf crowd when the movie gets extra weird in the final act. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio commentary by critic and author Samm Deighan covers how A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness is his big comeback after the blacklisting. She views this film as being not an outlier from his career. The film is a satire about the fame industry. She talks about the cast and crew.
New interview with editor Kunihiko Ukai (19:54) is extremely interesting since as a student, he attended the trial between Seijun Suzuki and Nikkatsu. He hadn’t seen many of Suzuki’s films since his college cinema club couldn’t book the prints (remember this was before home video). He was delighted years later to have a chance to work with Suzuki on his first feature film after the blacklist. Akira Suzuki was the editor that he assisted. They filmed at Nikkatsu’s studio since he was used to the crew working there. He admits the real reason why Yoko Shiraki was cast in the lead when she was an amateur. She was not a one take wonder and only made one film after this. He talks about how it was interesting to see the visuals Suzuki shot to go along with the script.
Trailer (2:55) promises exciting newcomer Yoko Shiraki. She is that in the film. We also see the toll training for golf will take on her.
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp and a vintage review of the film
Radiance Films presents A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness: Limited Edition. Directed by Seijun Suzuki. Screenplay by Atsushi Yamatoya. Starring Yoko Shiraki, Yoshio Harada, Tetsu Mizuno, Masumi Okada, Joe Shishido, Kōji Wada, Shuji Sano, Asao Koike & Keisuke Noro. Running Time: 93 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: April 29, 2025.
