, also known as ''Crossways'', ''Shadows of the Yoshiwara'' or ''Slums of Tokyo'', is a 1928 silent Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Teinosuke Kinugasa was a Japanese filmmaker. He was born in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture and died in Kyoto. Kinugasa won the 1954 Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival for '' Gate of Hell''. Biography Kinugasa began his career as an onnagata (actor specializing in ...

. It is believed to be the first or one of the first Japanese films to be screened in Europe, and often mentioned in conjunction with Kinugasa's other

avant-garde film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

, the two years earlier '' A Page of Madness''.

Plot

A young man is obsessed with courtesan O-ume, but she refuses to meet him anymore, finding him too persistent. During a fight, the young man seemingly kills his rival, and is himself blinded. He hides in the flat which he shares with his sister, not knowing that the rival's death was only staged. A man approaches the sister, pretending to be a policeman who can help her to clear her brother from the charges with money. Also, a doctor whom the sister consults declares that her brother's eyes can be cured, but only if she can pay him. To collect the money, she offers herself as a prostitute to a procuress. When the alleged policeman attempts to rape the sister, she stabs him. Meanwhile, the brother has regained his eyesight on his own, goes to O-umes house and dies under her window, foaming from the mouth and ridiculed by O-ume and his rival. The last scene shows the sister standing at a crossway, calling in vain for her brother.

Cast

* Akiko Chihaya as the sister * Toshinosuke Bando as the brother * Yukiko Ogawa as O-ume, the courtesan * Minoru Takase as the policeman (as Ippei Sōma) *

Misao Seki Misao Seki was a film actor and comedian who worked in Japan and Hollywood from the 1910s through the 1940s. He appeared in more than 100 films over the course of his career. Biography Seki was reportedly born in Yokohama, Japan, into a well- ...

as the landlord * Yoshie Nakagawa as the procuress *

Kazuo Hasegawa was a Japanese film and stage actor. He appeared in over 300 films between 1927 and 1963. Career Born to a sake brewing family in Kyoto, he first appeared on stage at age five in a theater run by his family as a side business. In 1918, he beca ...

as the wrong woman * Keinosuke Sawada as the rival (as Myoichiro Ozawa)

Release history

''Crossroads'' was released in Japan on 11 May 1928. It was first screened in London on 26 January 1930 as ''Crossways'' and shown in New York in July of the same year as ''Slums of Tokyo''. While favorably received by critics in Berlin and Paris, the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

critic stated, the film "possesses the virtue of sincerity but its tempo is too heavy". In later years, film historians repeatedly commented on the influence of the German expressionist film on ''Crossroads'', in particular the works of

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jujiro 1928 films 1928 drama films Japanese silent films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese avant-garde and experimental films Films set in Tokyo Films directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa Silent drama films