Product Details

• Actors: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi, Narutoshi Hayashi
• Directors: Kon Ichikawa
• Producers: An Actor's Revenge ( Yukinojo henge ) ( Revenge of a Kabuki Actor ), An Actor's Revenge, Yukinojo henge, Revenge of a Kabuki Actor
• Format: Import, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: bfi
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000JD9YNC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,093 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: In this renowned and classic Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa, the great Kabuki onnagata Kasuo Hasegawa celebrates his 300th film appearance in a role designed especially for him. One of the classic theater styles of Japan, Kabuki does not use women in female roles. Highly trained male actors, called "onnagata," perform in them, and are often more convincing as women than many women might be. In the story, set in 1836, Yukinojo (Kasuo Hasegawa) is an onnagata, travelling to Edo in feminine disguise. On his journey, he recognizes three ruthless merchants who ruined his father's business, driving him to suicide. Pledged to revenge his father's death, he follows them, and with the help of a mysterious bandit martial artist named Yamitaro (also Hasegawa), fulfills his pledge, even though this means the destruction of one of the merchant's innocent daughters, who has fallen in love with him. Actor Hasegawa performed these same roles in a 1935 film version of this same story, directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, who consulted on this film. ...An Actor's Revenge ( Yukinojo henge ) ( Revenge of a Kabuki Actor )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most visually exciting films ever, November 16, 2004

By 

Michael Kiem (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Actor's Revenge [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ichikawa supposedly made this movie "to see what cinema could do." He pulls out all the stops and the result is a masterpiece of visual splendor, wit and style that is stunning as well as very entertaining. The story of a man taking revenge against the people who killed his parents is an old cliched melodrama that was assigned to Ichikawa by the film studio. Supposedly the studio was punishing him because his previous films were not commercial enough. But Ichikawa turns necessity into a virtue by glorifying the kitsch while at the same time keeping an ironic stance.

Ichikawa uses the widescreen to full effect in adopting the aesthetics of the Kabuki theater. The sheer visual inventiveness of the movie makes for the best kind of eye candy. There are bold splashes of primary colors and dramatic, very theatrical lighting. Some sets are intentionally artificial-looking while others are not. Somehow the two styles don't clash but instead portray the perfect intermingling of theater and cinema. Similarly, the use of jazz and lounge music(!) seem perfectly appropriate.

Hasegawa, the lead actor, played the same role in a previous version of the movie nearly 30 years earlier. A man who acts like a woman (both on-stage and off), seducing a woman young enough to be his daughter lends a touch of the bizarre which just makes things more interesting. The movie is graced by Ayako Wakao, at the height of her beauty.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Camp"--the pursuit of style, September 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: An Actor's Revenge [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If film is about the pursuit of style, Ichikawa Kon does the best. From one scene to another, Kon demonstrates that the pleasure of movie does not lie in "content," but the stylish movement.

Kon experiments this philosophy in his other films, such as "The Tokyo Olympiad" (a documentary of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964) and "The Makioka Sisters."

It's truly a shame that this VHS version is out of print. Someone MUST release this film on DVD.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, June 11, 2001

By 

Adella L. Thompson "artymesia" (Bellingham, Washington United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Actor's Revenge [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The greatest difficulty for the viewer is in deciding how to take this film. The story at its most basic is this: a kabuki actor famed for playing women finds the three men who drove his father to madness and his mother to suicide. Bent on revenge he takes advantage of the love of the daughter of one of these men and turns the men against eachother until, in the end all three are dead as is the daughter. Having never wanted to have taken this revenge and grieved at the death of the daughter, the actor leaves and is never seen again. However we are not meant to be emotionally rapt through all of this. There is a backing cast of wacky and sometimes noble characters, mostly theives, that bring a great bit of light humour into the mix. As it is, we must take it as neither drama nor comedy, but something approximating both. It is no masterpiece of cinema, but it ends up being a very enjoyable film to watch. The lighting and cinematographical technique used throughout is very impressive. It creates a dramatic setting similar to the stage on kabuki company performs their fanciful dramas. This film too is another fanciful production.