Stolen Desire

Shohei Imamura’s first feature (1958), shot in black-and-white ‘Scope, deals with a form of working-class Kabuki that attracted him as a college student, but its story about an itinerant troupe performing a striptease version of the form near Osaka isn’t very inspired. Nevertheless, Imamura characteristically finds some vitality in vulgaritythough his more prosaic working title, Tent Theatre, was rejected by the production company. In Japanese with subtitles. 92 min. (JR)

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