| The Masseurs and a Woman | |||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Hiroshi Shimizu | ||
| Music: | Senji Itō | ||
| Cinematography: | Masao Saitō | ||
| Studio: | Shochiku | ||
| Distributor: | Shochiku | ||
| Released: | [1] [2] | ||
| Runtime: | 66 minutes | ||
| Country: | Japan | ||
| Language: | Japanese | ||
is a 1938 Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.
The movie opens with Toku and his fellow blind masseur friend Fuku walking down a mountain path, heading for a spa town where they have been hired to serve the guests. Toku develops an affection for a female customer who passed him on his way to the village and whom he recognises by her distinct Tokyo smell. The woman also awakens the interest of guest Shintarō, who arrived together with his little nephew. When a series of thefts occurs, Toku, believing that she is the culprit, wants to help her escape. Instead, he not only learns that she is innocent, but also that she is on the run from her patron whom she dislikes. The next day, she leaves the village in a carriage with a man, possibly her patron, witnessed by Toku and Shintarō and his nephew.
Film scholar Alexander Jacoby describes The Masseurs and a Woman as part of a group of three Shimizu films (together with Mr. Thank You and Ornamental Hairpin) which "were bittersweet studies of grown-up feelings" and "group portraits set among temporary communities" that "concentrated more on the delineation of character than on plot".[3] Distanced from social and political realities and with its largely personal concerns, it conformed, according to Jacoby, with the producing company Shochiku's tradition of Ōfuna flavor films (low-key domestic dramas, named after the location of the company's studios).[4]
The Criterion Collection released the film in the US on DVD in 2009 as part of the Eclipse Series 15: "Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu".[5]