Rikyu

Rikyu (1989) is director Hiroshi Teshigaghara's paean to traditional Japanese arts. Teshigahara took over his father's famous ikebana school, the Sogetsu School, after he died and took a step back from film making. In this film all sorts of Japanese arts can be seen as Rikyu teaches the art of tea ceremony to rulers Nobunaga Oda and then later to Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The significance of this period alludes me and makes me want ot broaden my knowledge of Japanese history which is lacking aside from modern history. This might not be the best transfer of Teshigahara's film, but he does an excellent job of framing shots through doorways, hallways, from behind weeds, screens and many other inventive ways. The final scene displays Teshigahara's modernist/avante garde credentials with an ikebana bamboo forrest while identifying Rikyu's suicide. It is something of a quiet film in that there isn't a lot of action and that might try the patience of some viewers, but it is a contemplative type of film that has many rewards throughout.