Kagero-za

1981 2h 20m JA

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 32

RomanceDramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron's deceased wife.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Yūsaku Matsuda
Shungo Matsuzaki
Michiyo Yasuda
Shinako
Eriko Kusuta
Ine
Yoshio Harada
Wada
Mariko Kaga
Mio
Katsuo Nakamura
Tamawaki
Ryutaro Otomo
Master
Eimei Esumi
Butler

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Seijun Suzuki
Writers: Yōzō Tanaka
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

45 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CRAFT

Did you know

Part of the "The Taisho Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Seijun Suzuki, shot by Kazue Nagatsuka. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Akira Suzuki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Yūsaku Matsuda and Michiyo Yasuda and Eriko Kusuta carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0082596 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 32 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Seijun Suzuki directs. Kazue Nagatsuka behind the camera. Akira Suzuki cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

145 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Part of the "The Taisho Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Seijun Suzuki, shot by Kazue Nagatsuka. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Akira Suzuki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Yūsaku Matsuda and Michiyo Yasuda and Eriko Kusuta carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0082596 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 32 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Kazue Nagatsuka
Editing: Akira Suzuki
Production design: Noriyoshi Ikeya
Runtime: 140 min · 2h 20m
Status: Released
Original language: JA
IMDB: Kagero-za (1981)

Part of

The Taisho Trilogy

After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu for Branded to Kill (1967), maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with his critically-praised tryptic of cryptic supernatural dramas set during the liberal enlightenment of Japan’s Taisho Era (1912-26). Rarely seen outside of Japan, the films in the Taisho Trilogy are considered Suzuki’s masterpieces in his homeland. Presenting a dramatic turn from more his familiar tales of cops, gangsters and unruly youth, these surrealistic psychological puzzles drip with a lush exoticism, distinctively capturing the pandemonium of a bygone age of decadence and excess, when Western ideas, fashions, technologies and art fused into everyday aspect of Japanese life.