Bonchi (1960)

Bonchi: Directed by Kon Ichikawa. With Raizô Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura, Mitsuko Kusabue, Machiko Kyô. Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give them an heiress for the family business, he stands by helplessly as his wife is thrown out of the house for producing a son. Driven to a life of dissipation – his mistresses also fail to produce daughters – in the end he is just too tired to care. The film presages Ichikawa’s The Makioka Sisters in its World War II nostalgia and visual sophistication.

“Concerning a beloved subject by japanese people of this era: the relationships of the womanizer son of a matrilinear clan with concubines and geishas through the years. I came here mostly to see Ayako Wakao acting outside a movie of Yasuzo Masamura and I wasnu0026#39;t disappointed since sheu0026#39;s great in this movie too.”