Classic Japanese Tale Reborn

A Japanese film based on a 1,000-year-old literary masterpiece will get its world premiere at a special screening at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theater on Wednesday, as its producers try to gauge whether it will appeal to a foreign audience that hasn’t been weaned on the Japanese classic. They also hope this film will represent a renaissance for the Japanese film industry, which has lagged behind counterparts elsewhere in Asia--Hong Kong and China in particular--in finding worldwide audiences for its movies.

The film, “Genji: A Thousand Year Love,” is based on the Japanese literary masterpiece “The Tale of Genji.” It’s scheduled to open in Japan in mid-December.

“Genji” director Tonko Horikawa and the film’s producers note that recent films from Japan haven’t played well outside their native country.

Horikawa also observes that Japan has been too bowled over by American culture in its post-World War II drive for success to produce its own distinctive cinema.

As it becomes more reflective in the face of a decade-long economic downturn, however, Japan’s appetite for more thoughtful, substantive issues has increased.

“Perhaps we’re mature enough to go back to our roots,” he said.

The original “Genji” was written by Murasaki Shikibu, an aide to Empress Shoshi. The story focuses on Genji, a prince in the Heian period, his loves and conquests, his pillow talk and the rich intrigue of court life. The relatively peaceful Heian era in Japanese history ran from 794 to 1190.

“Genji: A Thousand Year Love” is television director Horikawa’s first feature film, and he and the producers have combined popular and classical techniques in their reinterpretation. “We tried to transform the classic with a sense of adventure and respect,” said executive producer Yusuke Okada.

While past film versions have focused on a few chapters of the rather unwieldy, 2,000-page story, this version, produced and distributed by Toei Co., tries to follow the plot more faithfully. Horikawa also employed a modern narrative approach, weaving in details of author Shikibu’s own life and thoughts along with the characters and story she created. Shikibu’s character is played by the famous Japanese actress Sayuri Yoshinaga.

Most of the many earlier efforts to bring “Tales of Genji” to the screen represented more conventional love stories.

Horikawa has tried to use the tale as a vehicle for ancient and modern social commentary.

In particular, he looks at the difficulty even upper-class Japanese women in the 11th century had living happily in a world where men held so much control, with an eye toward changing roles today.

The film is told from the perspective of the prince’s many wives and disenchanted lovers. Near the end, author Shikibu tells her young female student she hopes women will someday be free to choose whom they want to love.

“We tried to look at how Japan changes and doesn’t change,” Okada said. “Our conclusion was that in many ways it hasn’t changed a lot--Japan has only had 50 years of liberalism and democracy compared with 1,000 years of feudal, male samurai culture.”

Horikawa cast actress Yuki Amami in the lead male role of Genji in a further exploration of male-female roles. Amami is a former star of Takarazuka, Japan’s all-female theater revue.

“This film is very different from traditional Japanese films that concentrate on elegant simplicity,” said Katsuyo Ito, a film and theater critic. “It tries to give us a more realistic view of life--probably too realistic for me.”

The film stands out in particular with its use of costumes and period architecture.

The art and design budget was $6.6 million, nearly 60% of the film’s total production cost and more than twice what the average Japanese film runs.

Designers dug out historical records to make the elaborate 12-layer kimono, which can weigh as much as 40 pounds.

Ota Kogei Co., a Kyoto-based kimono maker, had to build special looms for the extra wide obi belts.

“There are very few people now who can re-create Heian craftsmanship,” said Yoshinobu Nishioka, the film’s art director.

“We relied on several artists in their 70s. But in a few years there may be no one left alive with these skills.”

Careful attention also was given to kimono colors and patterns, which in Heian days signaled rank and relative status.

“There were precise rules for wearing everything,” Nishioka added, “even undergarments.”

Because there are almost no Japanese buildings from the Heian period left standing, set designers drew on old drawings and descriptions of noble houses to build the sets.

The 80 pillars used took three months to carve from giant square timbers.

Original Story Also Explored Inequities

Some of the tensions the director tries to exploit in the film--a woman playing a man’s role, a traditional love story serving as a vehicle to explore fundamental social inequities--also are found in the original classic.

In some ways, the fact that “Tales of Genji” was written by a woman at all seems somewhat incongruous, given Japan’s long history of male-dominated society.

Horikawa’s willingness to use new forms and tackle such a huge work in an innovative new way is striking. Real and imaginary worlds mix and collide, complete with singers belting out modern tunes from rooftops and spirits of frustrated women floating in the air over Kyoto.

Several of the kimonos used in the film will be on display at the Wednesday premiere. Yoshinaga, the lead actress, also will make an appearance.

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Makiko Inoue in The Times’ Tokyo bureau contributed to this report.