PASSION OF JAPANESE FILM ACCENTUATES ART, NOT SEX

Incredible as it seems, there are two “Appassionatas” opening today, one Italian, the other Japanese.

Ironically, “Appassionata” (at the Kokusai) is not an altogether appropriate title for this handsome Japanese period picture, as traditional in style as it is contemporary in its feminist sentiments. The passion that consumes its heroine is not sex, but art.

This leisure biography of the much-honored Meiji-era painter Shosui Shimamura emphasizes her plight as a woman at odds with the very rigid society of Kyoto in the 1890s. That Shimamura (Yuko Natori) is allowed to study painting at all is largely due to the fact that her widowed mother (Mariko Okada), the hard-working proprietress of a tea store, indulges her; as a child Okada had been farmed out to foster parents by her impoverished family, and now she’s dedicated herself to seeing that her two daughters have the best lives possible.

However, early on, Shimamura’s quickly blossoming talent proves a source of grief. Her older sister (Aki Mizusawa) suffers from a lack of attention, even from the man (Kunihiko Mitamura) she loves, who’s more attracted to Shimamura than to her. And when Shimamura comes of age, her painting master (Kei Sato), a sleek, middle-aged sensualist, takes advantage of his position to seduce her. The more honors Shimamura accrues, the more she threatens the men with whom she has worked; out of jealousy and hypocrisy they bring her to the brink of destruction.

But “Appassionata,” directed exquisitely by Sadao Nakajima from Hiroo Matsuda’s screenplay (based on Tomiko Miyao’s story), is at the same time a paean to mother love, that enduring and beloved Japanese theme. It is perhaps more than anything else a portrait of a mother and daughter who learn, not without considerable pain, that survival means forgiveness and sticking together. The veteran Okada is wonderful at creating a traditional self-sacrificing Japanese woman, enraged to realize that her dutiful concern for propriety and for what she considers the best interests of her talented daughter have come to naught, yet ultimately capable of responding to the promptings of her heart. Natori and Mizusawa are impressive, as is Yoshiko Mita as a singularly subtle and discreet geisha.

With its ancient Kyoto settings, “Appassionata” is beautiful to behold and conveys effectively what it means to be a serious painter, constantly in the process of self-discovery, constantly refining and developing one’s style. With its stunning, precise and highly evocative images, “Appassionata” (Times-rated Mature for some sex and nudity and adult themes) is a work of art itself.

‘APPASSIONATA’

(‘JO-NO MAI’)

A Toei presentation. Producer Shigeru Okada. Director Sadao Nakajima. Screenplay Hiroo Matsuda; based on an original story by Tomiko Miyao. Camera Fujio Morita. Music Toshiro Mayuzumi. Art director Tokumichi Igawa. With Yuko Natori, Mariko Okada, Yoshiko Mita, Morio Kazama, Kunihiko Mitamura, Aki Mizusawa, Kei Sato. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Running time: 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.