The Masseurs and a Woman

The Masseurs and a Woman (按摩と女, Anma to onna) is a 1938 Japanese comedy drama film written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.

The Masseurs and a Woman
Japanese按摩と女
Directed byHiroshi Shimizu
Written byHiroshi Shimizu
Starring
Music byIto Senji
CinematographyMasao Saitō
Production
company
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • July 7, 1938 (1938-07-07)
[1]
Running time
66 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

The movie opens on Toku and his fellow blind masseur friend Fuku walking down a mountain path talking about how they take pride in how many people they pass on their walks even though they are blind. They are walking north to work in a village of inns. Once there they perform their jobs and Toku encounters a woman from Tokyo who had ridden in a carriage that passed them on the road. He recognizes her by her distinct Tokyo smell. The next few scenes are comedic encounters with other customers and in particularly with a boy and his uncle. This boy meets the lady from Tokyo and she meets his uncle who becomes smitten with her. This makes Toku sad. All the while there is a rash of thefts of guest's money while they take baths. Toku believes the woman is doing this and tries to have her escape, but finds out that she is not the one doing it. Instead all the reasons he thought it was her she explains as that she was a mistress of a man she didn't like and was on the run from him. The next day Toku finds her sitting in a carriage, they say nothing but a man with a police officer also enters the carriage. It is unsaid but assumed that the man is her patron and the carriage takes off as a saddened Toku watches.

Cast
  • Mieko Takamine as Michiko Misawa
  • Shin Tokudaiji as Tokuichi
  • Shinichi Himori as Fukuinchi Misawa
  • Bakudan Kozo as Kenichi
  • Shin Saburi as Shintaro Omura
  • Ayuko Hirano as Hiking girl
  • Toru Hirose as Hiking student
  • Zentaro Iijima as Kamekichi
  • Akio Isono as Hiking student
  • Hideko Kasuga as Okiku
  • Toshiaki Konoe as Hiking student
  • Chieko Kyotani (credited Chieko Kyoya) as Oaki
  • Fusako Maki as Hiking girl
  • Mitsuko Miura as Hiking girl

Legacy

Film scholar Alexander Jacoby describes The Masseurs and a Woman as part of a group of three Shimizu films (together with Mr. Thank You and Ornamental Hairpin) which "were bittersweet studies of grown-up feelings" and "group portraits set among temporary communities" that "concentrated more on the delineation of character than on plot".[2] Distanced from social and political realities and with its largely personal concerns, it conformed, according to Jacoby, with the producing company Shochiku's tradition of Ōfuna flavor films (low-key domestic dramas, named after the location of the company's studios).[3]

Home media

The Criterion Collection released the film in the US on DVD in 2009 as part of the Eclipse Series 15: "Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu".[4]

References
  1. "The Masseurs and a Woman at the Japanese Movie Database" (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  2. Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
  3. Jacoby, Alexander (2007). Phillips, Alastair; Stringer, Julian (eds.). Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-32847-0.
  4. "The Masseurs and a Woman in the Criterion Collection". Retrieved 20 January 2021.
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