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ZAGREB
KINO KINOTEKA
05. 10. 2026.
20:00


BIJELA NIT VODOPADA | TAKI NO SHIRAITO 滝の白糸 |  THE WATER MAGICIAN
Kenji Mizoguchi

1933., c/b | b/w, nijemi | silent, 98 min

Film uz izvedbu Ichira Kataoke, benshija – pripovjedača za nijeme filmove i glazbenu pratnju pijanistice Makije Matsumure. | A film with a live performance by benshi Ichiro Kataoka, a narrator for silent films, accompanied by pianist Makia Matsumura.

Redatelj | Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Izvorna priča | Original Story: Kyoka Izumi
Scenaristi | Screenwriters: Yasunaga Higashibojo, Shinji Masuda, Kennosuke Tateoka
Snimatelj | Cinematographer: Shigeru Miki
Glume | Cast: Takako Irie, Tokihiko Okada, Ichiro Sugai, Koju Murata
Produkcija | Production: Irie Production
Benshi: Ichiro Kataoka
Pijanistica | Pianist: Makia Matsumura





Sluteći lunarno-vodenu snovitost zvučnih priča kiše i mjeseca, izvorni naslov jednog od ključnih nijemih filmova Kenjija Mizoguchija Bijela nit vodopada umjetničko je ime čarobnice vode, putujuće izvođačice tradicionalne mađioničarske vodene umjetnosti – mizugei u kojoj je voda glavni element scenske iluzije. Iluzionistica Shiraito, pravim imenom Tomo Mizoshima, poznata je po svojoj ljepoti i vodnim majstorijama koje u Mizoguchijevom filmu zrcali svjetlucava rijeka Asano u japanskoj Kanazawi. Nakon sudbinskog susreta s mladim kočijašem samurajskih korijena Kinyom Murakoshijem koji sanja o karijeri pravnika, Shiraito se posvećuje financiranju njegovog studija u Tokiju, a očaj samožrtvovanja je vodi od ljubavi do zločina. Shiraito je prototip Mizoguchijeve tragičke buntovnice, nije samo zvijezda klasičnog izvedbenog spektakla japanske magije ženskog tijela i muškog pogleda, već utjelovljuje protuslovnu fluidnost percepcije Mizoguchijevih filmova.

Mizoguchijeva melodrama snažno potisnutog erosa u stilu nove škole shinpa adaptacija je romana Kyoke Izumija i prvo filmsko djelo o popularnoj junakinji koju utjelovljuje žena, a ne onnagata, glumac ženskih uloga. Glumi je Takako Irie, najpopularnija japanska glumica 1930-ih, ikona moge – moderne djevojke, u prvome filmu njezine produkcijske kuće Irie Productions za koji su redatelj i glumica oblikovali stradanje lika Shiraito prema lutkarskom kazalištu i kabukiju, osobito u scenama ubojstva i suđenja, vrhuncima glumačkog patosa u filmu. Tekuće stanje filma prelijeva se površinama lica,  čarolijama filmskog afekta u krupnim planovima, prekrivenog suzama i lunarnim mijenama. Mjesec i voda bijele su niti oniričke katarze između života i smrti, a lirska akrobatika putujuće izvođačice prožeta je Mizoguchijevim razradama ponavljajućih motiva iz kazališne umjetnosti, poput žene/izvođačice kao žrtve, dvostrukog samoubojstva, kružnog putovanja i povratka, trenutka susreta koji životu donosi smisao. Japanska tragedija ukletih ljubavnika povijest je žudnje mlade žene u modernizirajućem Japanu, njezinog samožrtvovanja u težnji da oboje dosegnu društveni uspon, kao stalne Mizoguchijeve teme – risshin shusse iz ženske perspektive koji je protagonistici unatoč zvjezdanom i slobodarskom statusu nedostižan. Preokretni edipski motiv kastriranog ženskog glasa osobito je fascinantan u kontekstu japanskog povijesnog slušanja nijemog filma u interpretaciji filmskih pripovjedača – benshija. Akuzmatični glas filmu i protagonistici Shiraito otkrit ćemo u izvedbi slavnog benshija Ichira Kataoke i glazbenoj pratnji kompozitorice i pijanistice Makije Matsumure.

(Tanja Vrvilo)


Foreshadowing the lunar-water dreamscape of the sound stories of rain and the moon, the original title of one of Kenji Mizoguchi’s key silent films, White Treads of the Waterfall, is the stage name of a water magician, a travelling performer of the traditional Japanese magical water art known as mizugei, in which water is the principal element of stage illusion. The illusionist Shiraito, whose real name is Tomo Mizoshima, is renowned for her beauty and her water tricks, mirrored in Mizoguchi’s film by the shimmering Asano River in Kanazawa, Japan. Following a fateful encounter with Kinya Murakoshi, a young coachman of samurai lineage who dreams of becoming a lawyer, Shiraito devotes herself to financing his studies in Tokyo, while the despair of her self-sacrifice leads her from love to crime. Shiraito is the prototype of Mizoguchi’s tragic rebellious woman: she is not merely the star of a classical performative spectacle of Japanese magic involving the female body and the male gaze, but embodies the contradictory fluidity of perception characteristic of Mizoguchi’s films.

Mizoguchi’s melodrama of radically repressed eros in the style of the new shinpa school, is an adaptation of Kyoka Izumi’s novel and the first cinematic work about the popular heroine in which she is embodied by a woman rather than an onnagata, a male actor playing female roles. She is played by Takako Irie, the most popular Japanese actress of the 1930s and an icon of the moga – the modern girl, in the first film produced by her production company Irie Productions. For the film, the director and actress shaped Shiraito’s passion through the forms of puppet theatre and kabuki, particularly in the murder and trial scenes, the culminations of the film’s histrionic pathos. The film’s fluid state flows across the surfaces of faces, into the enchantments of cinematic affect in close-ups covered with tears and lunar transformations. The moon and water are the white threads of an oneiric catharsis between life and death, while the lyrical acrobatics of the travelling performer are permeated by Mizoguchi’s elaboration of recurring motifs from the theatrical arts, such as the self-sacrificing woman/performer, double suicide, circular journey and return, and the moment of significant encounter that gives meaning to life. The Japanese tragedy of cursed lovers is the history of a young woman’s desire in a modernizing Japan, of her self-sacrifice in striving for both of them to attain a persistent Mizoguchian theme of social rise and prosperity – risshin shusse from a female perspective, which remains unattainable to the protagonist despite her status as a star and her liberated spirit. The Oedipal reversal embodied in the motif of the castrated female voice is particularly fascinating in the context of the historical Japanese experience of listening to silent film through the interpretation of film narrators, the benshi. We will discover the acousmatic voice of the film and its protagonist Shiraito in the performance of the celebrated benshi Ichiro Kataoka, accompanied by composer and pianist Makia Matsumura.

(Tanja Vrvilo)