Yumeji

The final segment of Suzuki's Taisho trilogy suffers somewhat seen in isolation, without the earlier films Zigeunerweisen and Heat-Haze Theatre. Nevertheless, it's a spirited showing for a veteran director: a sensual, absurdist ghost story spun around the character and work of real-life painter and poet Yumeji Takehisa (1884-1934), seen as a chronic philanderer and dreamer. Kenji Sawada, the effete pop star featured as a glamorous masochist in Paul Schrader's Mishima, does his utmost to give the hero some substance, but Suzuki's saturated colours, delirious imagery, and narrative ellipses swamp all attempts at characterisation. The film goes nowhere, slowly, but the mood along the way is seductive enough.