The Snow Flurry (Kazabana)
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Written by Keisuke Kinoshita
1959/Japan
Shochiku Eiga
First viewing/FilmStruck
“The snow doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches.” ― E.E. Cummings
This was one of those convoluted flashback stories that tends to lose me. The color made up for some of my confusion.
The story begins where it ends, with a young man watching a bridal procession and running in despair to a river. A woman runs after him, possibly to prevent his suicide.
Flashback to earlier days, when a man and woman attempt double suicide in that same river. The man, Hideo, dies but his lover Sachiko survives. Hideo was the son of a proud land-owning family and Sachiko is of humbler origins. The patriarch of the family is so infuriated with his son that he dumps the ashes in the river. He would really be glad if Sachiko would make a more successful attempt. But she is pregnant. The grandfather adopts the child who he names Suteo (“abandoned”?) into the family but both mother and son are treated essentially as servants.
They are not the only miserable people in the household. The daughter of the family is trapped there waiting for a suitable marriage while secretly in love with Suteo. There is no snow involved. The title refers to a phenomenon in which flower petals are blown around by the wind.
I think I might enjoy this more on a second viewing when I had some idea of the general plot line. I didn’t love it enough, however, that that is likely to happen any time soon.
