Strayer’s Chronicle helmer Zeze Takahisa‘s latest period drama, The Chrysanthemum And The Guillotine, released in Japan over the summer and is now poised to screen at the Tokyo International Film Festival as of November 1. The film also screened at Busan and there are a few reviews I’ve spotted to its credit that lend some perspective about the film as the weeks move forward with any potential international release news pending.
Zeze co-wrote the script which sets its tale in the murky aftermath of the 7.1 magnitude Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 that set off economic and social depression, and the rise of militarism. At the core of this setting lies a female troupe of dedicated sumo wrestlers whose paths cross with a band of anarchists and what ensues in between is a story of romance and love amidst an ideological battle for equality with both groups trying to achieve virtually the same goal under clearly different means.
The 31st Tokyo International Film Festival kicks off next week with tickets for the screening still available. The film stars actress Kiryu Mai and actor Higashide Masahiro who will also have another outing at Tokyo’s TIFF a few days earlier in Ishii Gakuryu’s Punk Samurai Slash Down.
