1960s drama film film noir crime film Japanese New Wave

Pale Flower

1964 · Japan · 96 min

Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Music: Tōru Takemitsu
Production company: Shochiku

Cast

Ryō Ikebe

What it is about

Muraki, a hardened yakuza, is released from prison and learns that his gang has merged with a rival one. At an illegal gambling parlor he meets Saeko, a mysterious young woman from an upper-class background who loses large sums of money and asks him to find games with ever higher stakes. A intense and mutually destructive relationship develops between them while the rival gangs stir around him.

How it was made

Shinoda was influenced by Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal while making the film, and chose the yakuza world because he felt it was the last place where a Japanese ceremonial structure survived. The story is adapted from a novel by Shintaro Ishihara, and the screenplay was split between Shinoda, who wrote the first half, and Masaru Baba, who wrote the second. Baba was unhappy with how the film departed from his script, and the dispute delayed the release by about nine months. Shinoda cast Ryō Ikebe in the lead, looking for an actor going through a difficult stretch in his career, and praised his graceful bearing.

Reception and legacy

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four and later placed it on his list of Great Movies, calling it an important work of the emerging Japanese New Wave. Ashim Ahluwalia and Michael Mann both included it in their personal Sight & Sound top ten lists. The Criterion Collection released it on DVD and Blu-ray with an interview with Shinoda and commentary by Peter Grilli.