Hopelessly Enchanted

The Mad Fox aka Love, Thy Name Be Sorrow

Tomu Uchida, 1962, Toei Company

FOR A CERTAIN GENERATION OF POSTWAR JAPANESE FILMMAKERS, theatrical forms of earlier centuries—Bunraku, Kabuki, and Noh—became crucial sources of energy and inspiration. Directors as varied as Nagisa Oshima, Kon Ichikawa, and Keisuke Kinoshita were drawn to pre-modern stage traditions (1969); colors could be over-ripened and painted sets foregrounded.