Towering Waves / 波の塔 / Nami no to (1960)

Obscure Japanese Film #221

 

Ineko Arima and Masahiko Tsugawa

 

Wakako (Miyuki Kuwano), the daughter of corporation director andministerial candidate Tazawa (Hiroshi Nihonyanagi), meets Onogi (MasahikoTsugawa) by chance while exploring an ancient dwelling in Kamisuwa in NaganoPrefecture. Although she’s attracted to him, they go their separate ways andshe assumes they’ll never meet again. However, sometime later she runs into himwhile he’s in the company of Yoriko (Ineko Arima), but Wakako is unsure aboutthe nature of their relationship.

 

Miyuki Kuwano
 

It turns out that Yoriko and Onogi have been having an affairsince they met by chance while watching a Russian theatre troupe perform The Lower Depths. When Onogi noticedthat Yoriko, who happened to be sitting next to him, looked like she was goingto vomit during the performance, Onogi – perhaps happy for an excuse to  leave – escorted her out, and theirrelationship began. 

 

Koji Nanbara and Kyoko Kishida
 

Yoriko is unhappily married to Yuki (Koji Nanbara), a politicalfixer who’s having multiple affairs of his own, including one with Hideko(Kyoko ‘Woman in the Dunes’ Kishida). Given that Onogi is a junior prosecutor,it’s no surprise that he ends up investigating Yuki in relation to a corruptioncase, and it just so happens that Wakako’s father is also involved, therebyguaranteeing much hand-wringing and misery for everybody involved…

 

Hiroshi Nihonyanagi
 

This Shochiku production was based on a novel by Seicho Matsumoto publishedthe same year and contains so many unlikely coincidences that it should havereceived some kind of booby prize for Most Contrived Plot. However, the bookwas a best-seller in Japan and was also adapted for TV no fewer than eighttimes. It was also said to have been responsible for making the Aokigahara Forest atthe base of Mount Fuji a popular suicide spot. 

 

Ineko Arima
 

One expects better from director Noboru Nakamura, best known thesedays for The Shape of Night (1964),which also starred Miyuki Kuwano, although it’s the underrated Ineko Arimawho’s the top-billed star here. Unfortunately, they’re both wasted in this, asare the rest of a mostly strong cast that also includes talented characteractors Sadako Sawamura (as Wakako’s mother) and Ko Nishimura (as a slipperylawyer). There are some nice shots here and there, but overall this is easilythe least impressive of the nine Nakamura films I’ve seen so far.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

Thanks to A.K.