A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
(Hishu Monogatari)

Screening on Film

Directed by Seijun Suzuki.
With Yoko Shiraki, Yoshio Harada, Masumi Okada.
Japan, 1977, 35mm, color, 91 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
Print source: Japan Foundation

Nearly a decade after being fired by Nikkatsu Studios, Suzuki returned to the director’s chair with this titillating tale of a model who is groomed to become a professional golfer as a publicity stunt. When she turns out to be good at the sport, her success leads a deranged fan to hatch a blackmail scheme. “Riddled with the director's wildly non-conformist use of non-contiguous edits, unhinged shot composition, and violent splashes of colour, crazed and chaotic and for too long buried in the sand bunkers of obscurity, this long-overlooked work simply cries out for revival” (Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye).