Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao

Director: Kon Ichikawa

Summary: The tale of a female impersonator who exacts a revenge on the men who drove his parents to suicide. Japanese dialogue.

Perhaps director Kon Ichikawa's most stylistically inventive film, AN ACTOR'S REVENGE was adapted from a newspaper serial written by Otokichi Mikami and stars Kazuo Hasegawa as Yukinojo Nakamura, a celebrated "oyama," or female impersonator, working with the Ichimura kabuki troupe in 1836 Edo. During a performance one night, he catches sight of Sansai Dobe (Ganjiro Nakamura), the magistrate who ordered the murder of the actor's father years before. Despite the objections of his teacher, Yukinojo is intent on taking revenge not only against Dobe but against Kawaguchiya (Saburo Date) and Kokaiya (Eijaro Yanagi), businessmen who were also involved in the crime. He intends to begin by seducing Dobe's daughter Namiji (Ayako Wakao), but when she falls in love with him after seeing him on the stage, Yukinojo begins to approach his plan differently. With rice in short supply, Kawaguchiya has tried to corner the market to best business rival Kokaiya. Yukinojo uses the situation to play the two off one another, resulting in successive tragedies for Kawaguchiya. Kokaiya's next action takes everyone by surprise. Ichikawa weds visual and narrative elements of the Kabuki theater to the conventional revenge plot in a coruscating ballet of light, color, and action.

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Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	Japanese
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1962
Release Date:	January 27, 2003
Runtime:	108 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B F I V D 571
Keywords:	Martial, Subtitled, Revenge, Wide, Screen, Japanese, Actor, Arts, Actor's, Henge, Kabuki, Yukinojo
Genre:	Martial Arts