Kinuyo Tanaka: Japan’s original screen queen
In front of or behind the camera, she was a veritable force of nature
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Helmi Yusof
IF you think Meryl Streep is good, you should watch Kinuyo Tanaka (1909 – 1977) – and you will be able to in an ongoing Singapore retrospective of her films. Once wildly popular in Japan, she gave the kind of immortal performances audiences couldn’t avert their eyes from.
Viknesh Kobinathan, the Asian Film Archive programmer involved in the retrospective held in conjunction with the Japanese Film Festival Singapore, said: “It’s like every single part of her body can act – her shoulders can act, her ankles can act, her elbows can act.”
During her time, she appeared in more than 250 films. Some of the biggest movie directors in Japan couldn’t get enough of her. The great Kenji Mizoguchi cast her in 15 of his films, including the lead roles in The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho The Bailiff (1954) – all of which are regarded as cinema’s finest hours.
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