Street of Shame

Street of Shame
Street of Shame
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by	Masashige Narusawa (writer); Yoshiko Shibaki (novel);
Produced by	Masaichi Nagata (producer)
Cinematography	Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by
Music by	Toshiro Mayuzumi
Production; company	Daiei Film
Release date	March 18, 1956
Running time	87 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Street of Shame (赤線地帯, Akasen Chitai, "Red-light District") is a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is the personal tales of several Japanese women of different backgrounds who work together in a brothel. It was Mizoguchi's last film.

The film is based on the novel by Yoshiko Shibaki. In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.^[1]

Plot[]

Five female sex workers are employed at Dreamland, a licensed brothel near the Sensōji Temple in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who is now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently to pay her debt and get out; she also has a suitor who wants to marry her, but she has other plans for him. Miki seems the most nonchalant, until her father comes from Kobe to bring her news of her family and ask her to come home.

Cast[]


Actor	Role
Machiko Kyō	Miki
Ayako Wakao	Yasumi
	Yumeko
Michiyo Kogure	Hanae
	Otane
	Shizuko
	Yorie
Eitarō Shindō	Kurazō Taya
Sadako Sawamura	Tatsuko Taya
	Mickey's father
	nightwatch
Daisuke Katō	president of Brothel Owners' Association
Kenji Sahara

The production designer was .

Legacy[]

(1974) directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro is a remake of this film.^[2]

References[]

^ "Biennale Cinema 2018, Venice Classics". labiennale.org. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
^ Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 344. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.

External links[]

Street of Shame at IMDb
赤線地帯 at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
The Criterion Collection: Street of Shame

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[1] "Biennale Cinema 2018, Venice Classics". labiennale.org. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[2] Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 344. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.

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