#Ryosho S. Sogabe

[mariocki]

The Crimson Kimono (1959)

"He didn't mean it that way!"

"You don't have to mean it or say it, it's there all the time."

"It's what you think is behind every word and every look."

"You've got to wear my shoes to know what I'm talking about."

"But I do know."

"How could you know? Honey, how could you? You can't feel for me unless you are me. Take a good look, Chris. Do I look different to you than I did yesterday?"

"Joe."

"Did my face change?"

"Don't say that."

"I've got to say it! I never felt this in the army, in the police. Maybe it's five thousand years of blood behind me, busting to the front. For the first time, I feel different. I taste it right through every bone inside me. For the first time, I catch myself trying to figure out who I am. I was born here. I'm American. I feel it and live it and love it, but down deep, what am I? Japanese-American? American-Japanese? Nisei? What label do I live under, Chris? You tell me."

#The Crimson Kimono #samuel fuller #1959 #american cinema #film noir #james shigeta #glenn corbett #victoria shaw #Anna Lee #Paul Dubov #Jaclynne Greene #Neyle Morrow #Gloria Pall #George Yoshinaga #Pat Silver #Kaye Elhardt #Aya Oyama #George Okamura #Ryosho S. Sogabe #Bob Okazaki #a.. complicated film. straight noir meets melodrama but dosed with social issue urgency and an indie sensibility; the noir plot is #fairly underwhelming‚ but the scenes which centre on Shigeta's experiences as an asian cop in a white america are pretty powerful #can't be overstated how revolutionary it was to cast an actor of Japanese descent to play a romantic lead opposite a white woman at this #point in time; hell‚ it's still noteworthy in 2022 (and isn't that a fucking disgrace). Fuller was always concerned with tackling bigotry #and hate with his art‚ and his heart is evidently in the right place here; but i can't deny that it's uncomfortable to find this film #suggesting that hey‚ perhaps a lot of the oppression and distrust Shigeta perceives is actually in his head‚ maybe his best white pal #actually is a good egg and he should cut him some slack. idk‚ it's undeniably a progressive film but in places it backtracks before making #the really big statements. perhaps a non white director or writer would have had input that might have helped iron out some of the clunkier #moments in the script. still this is a vital and energetic film‚ and Shigeta revelatory in a powerhouse performance #forgive the overlong quote but i didn't want to cut any of it; probably The Moment of the film and one of Fuller's best bits of writing