The Insect Woman Redux

I was intrigued by Shohei Imamura and his preoccupation of the lower classes the first time I read about him in Ian Buruma’s book Behind The Mask. Insect Woman is the first film I saw at a retrospective of Japanese film at The Japan Foundation. Now seeing it in context to two of his other films (Pigs And Battleships and The Pornographers), I can see it as being fairly representative of his vision as a film maker. The Japanese title is “Nippon konchuki” or “Japanese entomology,” and this suggests a sort of scientific distance from the subject. Imamura also has a penchant for sensuous women who survive in the face of struggle through her resilience. Tome, the heroine, has lead a difficult life by the time she has escaped from her agrarian existence and birthing of a bastard child to Tokyo where she manages to find some success and happiness, as a Madame of a brothel before falling again. The introduction and closing provide bookends to story showing an insect and woman struggling up hills. I find Imamura’s films fascinating because he chooses to chronicle the unofficial version of Japan that of pimps, prostitutes, and other people from the underbelly of society. The Criterion edition includes the usual excellent bonus material: a fascinating essay by Dennis Lim, a conversation between Shohei Imamura and critic Tadao Sato, and an interview with critic and historian Tony Rayns.