The story of Taijiro Tamura’s 1947 novel Gate of Flesh
about a group of prostitutes foraging for survival in bombed out hovels in
occupied postwar Japan is one that saw a journey to the silver screen at least
four different times over the decades.
Penned shortly after the war with emphasis on the carnal physicality and
dog eat dog world of prostitution fighting to stay alive with what little
resources they have at their disposal, the first film adaptation came in 1948
with co-directors Masahiro Makino and Masafusa Ozaki.
The most famous version came in 1964 with Nikkatsu
anarchist Seijun Suzuki starring Jo Shishido in a hallucinatory and psychedelic
widescreen film. Around 1977 Shogoro
Nishimura did a Nikkatsu Roman Porno version of it and finally in 1988 Three
Outlaw Samurai director Hideo Gosha took a stab at it for Toei with Carmen
1945 aka Gate of Flesh picked up by 88 Films in a newly restored
blu-ray disc release. While all the film
versions that were made were button envelope pushers, Gosha’s iteration is
perhaps the most violent and nihilistic take replete with an unexploded bomb
wedged in the floors of the hovel and even more death and bloodshed than Suzuki’s
version.
Following the aftermath of WWII, Tokyo amid the Allied
Occupation is a disaster area of bombed out smoking buildings and ruin. Thriving on the fringes of society are a
ragtag group of prostitutes taking shelter inside a bombed-out dance hall they
hope to raise enough money to rebuild into ‘Paradise’.
As yakuza crawl the streets and impede upon
their plan in between servicing black marketers and American soldiers and
generals, an ex-soldier named Ibuki (Tsunehiko Watase) wounded from gunshot
after stabbing an American takes cover inside their hovel with mixed reactions
from the girls. Some of them perceive
the newcomer as a threat while others see him as a potential formidable ally
and protector. As the girls get into
fights with a newcomer who threatens to blackmail them to a rival gang of
prostitutes also ensnaring yakuza into the mix, the ensemble starts to come
apart at the seams with some opting out while another woman gang raped by an American-GI
hungers for bloody vengeance.
More straightforward, expensive but also somewhat dated to
the 1980s compared to previous versions of the story, this 1988 Carmen 1945 aka
Gate of Flesh rewritten for the screen by Battles Without Honor and
Humanity screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara is lensed handsomely and colorfully in
1.85:1 by Yuko Morita in their only known cinematographic effort and aided by a
somber electronic score by Moshifumi Izumimori.
Equally pessimistic and matter of fact as the Suzuki film yet somehow
slightly more violent and acerbic with somehow less, toned down eroticism
compared to the 1964 film, it pays greater attention to the individual
personalities of the prostitutes versus largely gazing at the silhouetted nude
bodies like Suzuki’s film tended to. Led
by Tokyo Bordello actress Rino Katase and Battles Without Honor and
Humanity actor Tsunehiko Watase who anchor an ensemble cast of characters frequently
alternating between Japanese, English and broken English, everyone here gives
their all in an otherwise somber and tragic period piece shining a spotlight on
life that existed around Japan following the war.
In 2008, Gate of Flesh was adapted once more for
television. While the Suzuki film still
overshadows this 1988 film, 88 Films nevertheless have fashioned a lovely
limited and numbered blu-ray edition with a golden OBI-spine and plentiful
extras including a collector’s booklet, audio commentary by Amber T and Jasper
Sharp, newly filmed intro by Earl Jackson and an interview with tattoo artist
Seiji Mouri.
Yes the Suzuki one for all
of its male gazing is still the superior and more subversive film but this Carmen
1945 version packs quite a punch in its own right. Focusing on the endurance and ordeal with
greater emphasis than debatably any of the other iterations, this Gate of
Flesh offers another alternative look at the legendary Taijiro Tamura novel
with sharp, jagged edges sure to cut and bleed you if you’re not careful
walking around this war torn bombed out Hellscape.
--Andrew Kotwicki