Conflagration (film)

Conflagration (炎上, Enjō) is a 1958 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on the Yukio Mishima novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.[1][2][3] Ichikawa named Conflagration as the favourite among his own films.[4]

Conflagration
Directed byKon Ichikawa
Written byKon Ichikawa
Keiji Hasebe
Natto Wada
Yukio Mishima (novel)
Produced byMasaichi Nagata
StarringRaizo Ichikawa
Nakamura Ganjirō II
Tatsuya Nakadai
CinematographyKazuo Miyagawa
Edited byShigeo Nishida
Music byToshiro Mayuzumi
Production
company
Distributed byDaiei Film
Release date
  • 19 August 1958 (1958-08-19) (Japan)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Goichi, a young Buddhist acolyte, becomes a student at the Golden Pavilion temple, Kyoto. His deceased father's sentiment that the Golden Pavilion is the most beautiful thing in the world is always present in his mind.[5] During a visit, Goichi's mother states the wish that he might one day become the head priest at the temple, which puts him under pressure, as does his inner conflict over the head priest's mundane behaviour, who runs the temple as a tourist attraction and regularly visits a geisha. A flashback (one of many within the entire film's greater structure) to his father's funeral introduces the idea of a cleansing inferno. Goichi sets fire to the pavilion. He is subsequently repudiated by his mother, and ultimately commits suicide during his transfer to prison.

Cast

Production

Yoshinobu Nishioka served as the film's art director.[6]

Legacy

Conflagration was screened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 1981,[7] at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015,[8] and at the Museum of Modern Art in 2018.[9]

References
  1. "炎上" (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  2. "炎上" (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. "炎上" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  4. "Conflagration". Japan Society. 16 October 2015.
  5. Svensson, Arne (1971). Japan (Screen Series). New York: A.S. Barnes. p. 15.
  6. "デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus「西岡善信」の解説" (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  7. "Conflagration (Enjo)". BAMPFA. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  8. "Enjo – Conflagration" (PDF). Berlinale.de. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  9. "Enjō (Conflagration). 1958. Directed by Kon Ichikawa". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 22 July 2023.

Further reading
  • Mellen, Joan. The Waves At Genji's Door: Japan Through Its Cinema, 1976. Pantheon, New York. ISBN 0-394-49799-6
  • Quandt, James. Kon Ichikawa, 1982. Cinematheque, New York. ISBN 0-9682969-3-9
  • Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Cinema, 2001. Kodansha America, New York & Tokyo. ISBN 4-7700-2995-0
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