THIRST FOR LOVE (1967)

愛の渇き

dir: Koreyoshi Kurahara

Nikkatsu

February 18, 1967

98 minutes B&W Nikkatsu scope

Nobuo Nakamura as Mr. Sugimoto

Ruriko Asaoka as Etsuko

Tetsuo Ishidate as Saburo

My fourth Kurahara movie, I’m continually impressed by his style, considering I had previously been completely unaware of him. From the very opening scene, we're shown, that what there is more going on underneath the surface of this movie, than what we know.

Thirst for Love is based on a novel of the same name by Yukio Mishima. It’s the story of Etsuko (the very pretty Ruriko Asaoka), a young widow who lives with her father-in-law, brother-in-law, his wife, and their kids on a large wealthy estate in the country. She’s having an affair - I guess you’d call it that - WITH the father-in-law, played with eye rolling contempt for everyone by Nobuo Nakamura (He considers them all good-for-nothings who are just mooching off of him). 

He’s not wrong, but he severely underestimates Etsuko, who seems to have a LOT going on inside that head, hidden behind that pretty vacant stare.

She suddenly becomes infatuated with Suburo (Tetsuo Ishidate), the young family servert; but when he gets the maid pregnant, her already confusing desires start to collide with everyone else’s reality. And boy, does it.

Beautifully shot in black and white, it again showcases Kurahara’s use of a number of storytelling techniques, and for being a somewhat cerebral drama, moves along at a nice pace and tells an interesting story, with one heck of an ending.