An Actor’s Revenge (Yukinojo henge) (Directors Suite) (1963)

Marking the 300th role of legendary Japanese actor Kazuo Hasegawa, An Actor's Revenge beautifully documents the stylistic eclecticism of the great Kon Ichikawa, whose penchant for deliriously stylised aesthetics meant that he was as misunderstood as he was fascinating.

Hasegawa plays Yukinojo Nakamura a kabuki actor who—like Hasegawa himself—was renowned for being an onnagata , or female impersonator. When Nakamura happens across the three men who drove his parents to suicide decades earlier, he uses his cunning, his talent and his sensuality to exact his revenge.

Ranging in style and genre from broad comedy to documentary, Kabuki-style melodrama to sword-and-sandals epic, An Actor's Revenge is made all the more eclectic thanks to the inclusion of modern jazz on the soundtrack. Stylish, cinematic and breathtakingly daring, An Actor's Revenge is a dazzling and entertaining masterpiece from one of Japan's least-acknowledged masters, Kon Ichikawa.

DVD Special Features

An insert article by John Berra, editor of 'The Directory of World Cinema: Japan'