Elegant Beast (1962) – A Capitalist Nightmare in Post-war Japan

I find Radiance Films to be an antidote for the general lack of curation in the world of big brand streaming. Each new physical release is a lovingly-packaged treat, often re-introducing an overlooked or under-seen film into the canon. I trust their taste and, with each new film I watch, I look forward to them showing me something that I’ve unknowingly been missing. My faith was once again rewarded with their latest release, Elegant Beast (1962) – a scathing attack on capitalism directed by Yuzo Kawashima.

The wonderful opening sequence introduces us to husband Tokizo (Yunosuke Ito), and wife Yoshino (Hisano Yamaoka), of the Maeda family, who are calmly re-arranging their apartment to hide their expensive belongings and present a facade of poverty. They’re a family of hustlers – their son Minoru (Manamitsu Kawabata), is embezzling company funds and their daughter Tomoko (Yuko Hamada), is the mistress of successful novelist Yoshizawa (Kyu Sazanka), from whom she borrows money for her father to invest. Adapted by the great Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Naked Island), from his own stage play, Elegant Beast is set almost entirely in the Maeda’s small apartment, wherein those affected by the family’s schemes visit and set in motion their eventual downfall. 

No one is innocent in the cutthroat world of Elegant Beast, with every character scheming and motivated by money or sex. Minoru steals from his boss Kitano, safe in the knowledge that there will be no police involvement because he cheats on his taxes. Tomoko’s lifestyle is funded by her companionship to a novelist who uses their relationship as the basis for his lurid stories, but who’s disgruntled that the family have taken over the apartment he bought for Tomoko to house their affair. All of this is masterminded by Tokizo – a former military man who’s disparagingly compared to a pimp, and is desperate to avoid the poverty he endured after World War 2. The Maeda’s might be at the bottom of the food chain, but they’re looking to take advantage of people who are taking advantage of them. 

The dynamics shift with the introduction of Yukie (Ayako Wakao), a widowed accountant who is Minoru’s colleague and mistress. Unbeknownst to the family, Minoru has secretly been giving money to Yukie, and it soon transpires that she has also been having an affair with Minoru’s boss, as well as other men, and has amassed enough capital to open her own inn. Yukie, played with such steel and callousness by Wakao, is able to do what the Maeda family has been desperate to do, and break free from her social and economical restraints. Shindo’s wonderful script shows us how she uses sex as power, manipulating greedy men and profiting off their obliviousness. At the same time, it shows us that burgeoning greed and the capitalist drive have transformed Minoru into the type of man that his family have been taking advantage of. 

While the movie takes great delight in creating a chaotic atmosphere (characters are constantly coming and going, screaming at one another, the sounds from the busy neighbourhood are ever-present), Yuzo Kawashima is at pains to show the economical peril that has shaped the Maeda family. He undercuts this chaos with Tokizo’s rumination on his former life, freezing the family in time and showing each of them in a tableau of deep reflection, the sound of the neighbourhood ebbing away as Tokizo spits about being “so poor, the stench clung to us.” Yunosuke Ito’s performance is sensational, and Kawashima lets his words hang in silence for us to absorb their severity before letting the soundscape wash back in. With that, the family is straight onto the next scheme as there’s little time for reflection in the constant pursuit of wealth.

What’s particularly striking about Elegant Beast is that it stays true to its theatrical roots while being wholly cinematic. Kawashima’s decision to shoot a single domestic location in eye-catching cinemascope gives the film a rich visual depth that’s consistently captivating. Radiance’s 4K restoration is stunning, showing off the film’s astonishing compositions in all their glory, and in one of the special features, filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Springs, 9 Souls), notes that as an audience member “you feel like a Peeping Tom.”

Kawashima often positions the camera to spy on characters who are in turn spying on someone else, and there’s a delightful high-angled frame half way through the film where we see Yoshino and Tomoko separately spying on Minoru and Yukie from separate locations, unaware of the other’s presence in the same room. It’s glorious melodramatic filmmaking and it’s a joy to watch Kawashima find new and inventive ways to make this cramped apartment seem as big as possible. In many ways, it feels like another deceit – how many secrets can this tiny space hold at once? How many new angles or new compositions can Kawashima find to keep Elegant Beast feeling so fresh? Kawashima emerges from this film like a magician at work, and to watch Elegant Beast is to sit in awe of his craft.  

This is another unequivocal triumph from Radiance, and aside from the incredible new 4K restoration the film boasts special features that include: an interview with film critic Toshiaki Sota on The Life and Career of Yuzo Kawashima; an informative Visual essay by critic Tom Mes on post-war architecture in Japanese cinema which helps to contextualise the apartment in which the Maeda’s live; and a wonderful appraisal of Elegant Beast by director Tosihiaki Toyada. Toyada speaks with such clarity and passion that I’m going to watch his film Blue Spring as soon as I’ve finished writing.

Jimmy’s Archive – Elegant Beast (1962)