Experience Suzuki Seijun's 'Aesthetics' in Digital Remastering

Artnine Special Exhibition 'Taisho Romance Trilogy'
Screenings of 'Jigoineruwaizen' and 'Yumeji'

A showcase highlighting the Japanese master Seijun Suzuki (1923?2017) is set to unfold. From the 15th to the 24th of this month, Art Nine will host the special exhibition "2024 Japan Movie Festival: Seijun Suzuki Aesthetics - Taisho Romance Trilogy." This event, co-hosted by the Japan Foundation Seoul Cultural Center and Et Nine Film, will screen digitally remastered versions of three works considered the pinnacle of his decadent aesthetics: "Zigeunerweisen" (1980), "Ajiroza" (1981), and "Yumeji" (1991).

Movie 'Ajirangijwa' Still Cut

Suzuki is a director who presented the most original aesthetics in Japanese film history. He made about forty B-movies over more than ten years at Nikkatsu. He led Nikkatsu's golden era by showcasing his own radical style. Especially, his 1960s yakuza films such as "Kanto Wanderer," "Tokyo Drifter," and "Branded to Kill" are praised for breaking genre conventions by crossing gang, musical, comedy, and period drama genres.

The three films introduced in this exhibition are the "Taisho Romance Trilogy," directed more than ten years after Suzuki was fired from Nikkatsu. They feature a more restrained and mature visual beauty compared to his earlier subversive works.

"Zigeunerweisen" won the Jury Special Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. With intense colors where reality and fantasy intersect, it sensually depicts the passions and illusions surrounding five men and women. "Ajiroza" is based on a novel by Izumi Kyoka, a representative writer of the Taisho era. It is regarded as the definitive work of Suzuki's aesthetics, adopting the unique style of "Kabuki cinema."

Movie 'Zigeunerweisen' Still Cut

"Yumeji" focuses on Takehisa Yumeji, a Taisho era painter famous for bijin-ga (paintings of beautiful women). It is not a biographical film. Instead, it fictionalizes the passionate days based on the fact that he traveled to Kanazawa during the height of his artistic fame.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.