A strange and thought-provoking film. At first glance, "The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan" is a period drama, retelling the repressive "reforms" of Lord Mizuno in 1841-42: he banned theater, gambling, prostitution, luxurious food. The film follows residents of Edo's Red Light District - geishas, gamblers, desperate losers, dreamers - and their response to life under Mizuno's "reforms".
The story is played out in a highly theatrical manner: there are some heroic actions, but no real heroes in this story. Like Kurosawa's "Dodes'ka-den" (also released in 1970), all the characters are comical flat caricatures, amusing "types" that demonstrate the absurdity and horror of society and the human condition. Some might find this lack of "realism" off-putting, but I enjoyed the stagey-ness, as director Shinoda's well-considered artistic choice. The viewer isn't allowed to get close to any of these cartoonish characters; and yet, the story becomes a kind of timeless allegory, rather than a tale of real people in a particular time and place.
I came across this film while researching the late 60s - early 70s films of the Art Theater Guild, which produced so many radical films embodying the radical student politics and culture of the era. At first I thought, " Ah good, here we are in the 1800s - at least we won't have to deal with hippie angst and extreme destruction of the narrative frame." But in fact..."The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan" has much in common with those radical ATG films ("Funeral Parade of Roses", "Throw Away Your Books", "This Transient Life", etc). Despite appearances, "Buraikan" is not really about the 1800s, it's very much about 1970. Here, revolution lies within claiming pleasure and enacting freedom as a form of life; but as students and hippies discovered, success is far from guaranteed. At some moments near the film's conclusion, the allegory hits repeated bulls-eyes, and profound truths are revealed about the political dilemmas of 1970...and maybe our own era, as well.
