Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on rockin’ flatscreen.
I feel out of place when a film is deep in a tradition with which I am not particularly familiar. Such is the case with Zangiku Monogatari (The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, sometimes called The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum). This is a film that is at least part rooted in Kabuki, and I don’t have a great deal of familiarity with Kabuki. I mean, I sort of know what it is, but I’m hardly an expert. It’s sort of like watching a game of cricket. I think I can appreciate parts of it, but I don’t really know what’s going on a lot of the time, and I’m not sure I can fully understand what makes something good or bad.
Regardless, Kabuki is more the backdrop of this film than it is the focus, and it’s the backdrop because our characters are stage actors. It’s a simple story of family, love, and redemption. A young man named Kikunosuke Onoue (Shotaro Hanayagi) acts in his adoptive father’s troupe. Because his father is a widely respected actor, Kikunosuke is praised to his face, but is constantly derided behind his back because he isn’t very good. The only person who really encourages him to improve at his craft is Otoku (Kakuko Mori), the wet nurse of his father’s infant son.
