The Heart (1973 film) explained

The Heart
Native Name:
Director:Kaneto Shindō
Music:Hikaru Hayashi
Cinematography:Kiyomi Kuroda
Editing:Mitsuo Kondo
Distributor:Art Theatre Guild
Runtime:90 minutes
Country:Japan
Language:Japanese

, also titled Love Betrayed, is a 1973 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. It is based on the 1914 novel Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki.[1]

Cast

Literary source

Sōseki's novel has been adapted for film and television numerous times, the first time for cinema by Kon Ichikawa in 1955 as The Heart. For his version, writer/director Shindō moved the story's Meiji era setting to the 1970s[2] and put his focus only on the novel's third and final part, "Sensei to isho" ("Sensei's testament").[3]

Reception

While Louis Frédéric ranked The Heart among Shindō's important films,[4] Max Tessier criticised Shindō's "leaden directing" and "heavy-handed psychology".[5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jacoby, Alexander . 2008 . Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day . 276 . Berkeley . Stone Bridge Press . 978-1-933330-53-2.
  2. Book: Natsume, Sōseki . Kokoro: de wegen van het hart . Lebowski Publishers . 2014 . 9789048836109.
  3. Book: Cazdyn, Eric . The Ends of Adaptation: Kon Ichikawa and the Politics of Cinematization . Kon Ichikawa . Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto International Film Festival Group . 2001 . 224 . 9780968296936.
  4. Book: Frédéric, Louis . Japan Encyclopedia . Belknap Press of Harvard University Press . 2002 . 864 . 9780674007703.
  5. Book: Tessier, Max . Kon Ichikawa: Black Humour as Therapy . Kon Ichikawa . Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto International Film Festival Group . 2001 . 81 . 9780968296936.