Manji (Swastika)
Directed by Yasuzo Masumura
Written by Kaneto Shindo from a novel by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
1964/Japan
Daiei Studios
First viewing/YouTube
[box] I’m not lesbian; I’m not bisexual; I’m not straight. I’m just curious. Alice Walker [/box]
Strikingly shot movie about forbidden love.
A housewife becomes obsessed with the model posing as a nude Buddhist Goddess of Mercy in her art class. Her feelings are reciprocated. But the housewife’s husband and the model’s fiance make the romance a fraught love quadrangle.
This didn’t grab me but is quite OK. The swastika must refer to the four points of the love quadrangle. There is no specific reference to it in the film.
Trailer – no subtitles
