The final film in his acclaimed Taisho trilogy, maverick filmmaker
Seijun Suzuki directs his bizarre, hallucinatory tale about the tortured inner world of famed 1920s painter Yumeji Takehisa. The film opens with Takehisa (played by former rock star Kenji Sawada) at a garden party, entranced by a woman in a gloriously red kimono. He's utterly struck by her beauty and mystery, and also by the fact that she is standing on a tree branch and appears to have no face. At nights, he is plagued with dreams of dueling a faceless man in a frock. When his adversary is about to make his final lethal blow, Takehisa quickly wakes. Later, he ventures to scenic Kanazawa where he plans to meet his lover, Hikono (Masumi Miyazaki). Instead, he meets a recent widow named Tomoyo, whose husband, Wakiya (Yoshio Harada), was slain by a murderously jealous man named Onimatsu. Feeling his act of rage was justifiable considering he discovered Wakiya in bed with his wife, Onimatsu is more than a little distraught when his would-be murder victim comes back to life sporting a blonde wig. Wanting to finish the job, Onimatsu chases Wakiya, while Takehisa seduces Tomoyo. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide