Odd Obsession
Directed byKon Ichikawa
Written byKeiji Hasebe
Kon Ichikawa
Natto Wada
Based onThe Key (Tanizaki novel)
1956 novel
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Produced byHiroaki Fujii
Masaichi Nagata
StarringMachiko Kyō
Tatsuya Nakadai
Nakamura Ganjirō II
Jun Hamamura
CinematographyKazuo Miyagawa
Edited byHiroaki Fujii
Music byYasushi Akutagawa
Production
company
Distributed byDaiei Film
Release date
  • 23 June 1959 (1959-06-23) (Japan)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Odd Obsession (鍵, Kagi), also titled The Key, is a 1959 Japanese satirical[1] comedy drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on the novel The Key by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.[2][3][4]

Plot

Art historian Kenji Kenmochi is married to the much younger Ikuko. Due to his waning virility, he has his doctor give him hormone injections. In addition, he tries to awaken the interest of his daughter Toshiko's fiancé, assistant doctor Kimura, in Ikuko, convinced that his jealousy will bring his manliness back. Ikuko agrees to the plan, as she has developed a genuine interest in Kimura. However, Kimura's main ambition for becoming part of the Kenmochi family is financing his continued studies with Kenji's money. Kenji eventually dies of a heart failure, an effect of his hormone injections.

Cast

Book and film

For the film, Ichikawa and his co-writers Natto Wada and Keiji Hasebe added a character not in the book, housemaid Hana, who in the finale (again not in the book) poisons Ikuko, Toshiko and Kimura.[5]

Awards

Odd Obsession was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.[6] It also received the 1960 Samuel Goldwyn International Award.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hale, Mike (15 October 2015). "Japan Society Reintroduces the Filmmaker Kon Ichikawa". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "鍵" (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "鍵" (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "鍵" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  5. ↑ McDonald, Keiko I. (2000). From Book to Screen: Modern Japanese Literature in Films. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765603876.
  6. ↑ "Kagi". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Odd Obsession". The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.