STOLEN DESIRE is the feature debut of Japanese New Wave’s doyen Sh?hei Imamura, it follows an itinerant kabuki troupe, performing in their “tent theater” first in Osaka, and then in the countryside areas, where in the former, amid the city’s post-WWII economic prosperity, the scanty audience’s only interest is the burlesque pre-show, à la French cancan, whereas in the latter, the bumper provincial folks are equally enthusiastic in both the raunchy and the traditional, a young Imamura shows enough acumen about the social implications of Japan’s shifting mentality and urban/rural divides.

The troupe is lead by Taminosuke (Takizawa), a veteran thespian, married to Osen (Sugai) and has two adult daughters Chidori (Minamida, whose demure complexion stunningly betrays the tangible feeling of desire and yearning) and Chigusa (Kita, more open-minded than what we might expect her to be), but our main protagonist is Shinichi Kunida (Nagato, perpetually haunted by ennui or angst, often fly off the handle at the drop of a hat), a university graduate who assumes the role as the troupe’s artistic director freshly out of the ivory tower, carrying a torch for the married Chidori, he is simultaneously coveted by the nubile Chigusa, who isn’t mincing words about her affection.

Their love triangle is candidly if tentatively consumed by passion and carnal knowledge, and in the end of the day, the solution is facilitated by both Chidori and Chigusa’s decisions, one passive, one active, while Shinichi is ailed by the typical man’s oscillation, he cannot make up his mind of what he really wants.

That also says a lot about Shinichi’s idealist slant on the troupe, his high-brow attempt of innovating their repertoire is at odds with the rest’s contentment of the status quo, for them, the theater is merely a skill to subsist their hand-to-mouth existence, no higher pursuance is required.

Clear-eyedly, Imamura doesn’t take sides of this generational chasm, the secular (the business-oriented village hags), even vulgar (men’s lascivious nature) aspects can elicit undeniable amusement as they are hopelessly inherent. Take Kanji (played by K? Nishimura with unapologetic chutzpah) for instance, a licentious loudmouth/dissenter wades into a gaggle of girls to be lionized for his funny antics, yet back in the troupe, he is spineless to pour oil on troubled waters when two of his casual lovers engage in a catfight, including a feisty Minako Katsuki as a peasant girl who decides to join the group to start anew, at any price.

By comparison, the budding intelligentsia represented by a hot-headed Shinichi is shown too eager, too monomaniac in their revolutionized ambition, hindered by the detachment of the reality, you cannot talk about art with an empty stomach.

Incorporating western strains with Japanese percussions and strings, Imamura conjures up a rumbustious comedy that pluckily tackles the conflicts between modernization and tradition head on, often droll, intelligent and viscerally compelling, one can discern his future virtuosity in this auspicious first work, and complaisantly intones, the best is yet to come.

referential entries: Imamura’s THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (1983, 8.0/10); Akira Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW (1963, 8.5/10).

1958年的黑白老電影了，豆瓣評分也太低了吧，看的人也少，才262個，長評3個，這片我評8.0分，下載的字幕時間軸不怎么精準，這里扣掉0.3分。至此看了今村八個作品了。 這是今村昌平的處女作，隱約有其風格的雛形了，是他電影里最輕松喜劇的一個，到《豬與軍艦》時，仍延續(xù)了喜劇，但是理想與生存的矛盾就更突出了，直接引發(fā)了悲劇。從此他的作品是喜劇和悲劇共生的。 《被盜的欲望》只有少少的悲傷，只有在知識分子吉信那里才會找到矛盾沖突的悲傷與憂愁。吉信向往高雅藝術(shù)（理想），但高雅藝術(shù)在大阪城里都得不到人們的認可，大眾藝術(shù)（生存）的艷舞一結(jié)束，輪到高雅的傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)登場，人們都跑光了。本來吉信要離開戲團去電視臺完成理想，但礙于人情，吉信還是跟隨戲團“家電下鄉(xiāng)”了，但這激烈的矛盾與沖突在他內(nèi)心左沖右撞，帶來沉重的悲傷與憂愁。 戲團團長有兩個女兒，妹妹非常喜歡他，姐姐嫁人了，卻一直在撮合他們，她一直看好這個大學畢業(yè)的知識分子。但有一個夜晚吉信因理想的難圓而借酒澆愁喝醉了，姐姐找到并帶回他的帳篷，吉信坦言他更喜歡的是姐姐，四目相對，吉信親吻上了姐姐，意亂情迷中，于是那晚他們做了夫妻之事，于是那晚妹妹進來一看，一下子就明白了，眼淚撲簌撲簌地流。 日本那個年代的農(nóng)村，沒有電視，更沒有電影院，幾乎沒有什么文化娛樂，一個戲團的到來就是一件天大的帶著藝術(shù)性質(zhì)的新鮮樂事，放在那時中國農(nóng)村也是一樣的，這是農(nóng)忙之余人們最大的文化娛樂，愛熱鬧是農(nóng)村人的劣根性，貪圖新鮮事物也是農(nóng)村人的劣根性，于是戲團被農(nóng)村人們像神一樣捧著。農(nóng)村大叔愛三點式的脫衣舞，愛那些姑娘的身材大腿和豪胸，甚至直言看得我都硬了，更甚的還偷看戲團妹妹們洗澡，討論哪個妹妹胸更豪，身材更好。農(nóng)村大嬸則愛奶油小生扮演的文戲，一個個在臺下發(fā)狂發(fā)浪，巴不得他溫柔漂亮的眼睛多看自己一眼，恨不得馬上改嫁給他，今夜就把身子許了他。馬丁? 斯科西斯是人稱為電影導(dǎo)演中的社會學家，而今村昌平當之無愧是電影導(dǎo)演中的人類學家。處女作中就真真實實展示了大眾的劣根性，特別是把農(nóng)村人的劣根性和歡樂展示得毫無違和感，身為農(nóng)村出身的我切身的感受那就是鄉(xiāng)親們啊。 戲團在農(nóng)村受捧，也受到農(nóng)村的劣根性的嚴重搔擾，鬧劇一出出，你方唱罷我登場，好不熱鬧。戲痞子潛規(guī)則愛演戲的農(nóng)村姑娘事敗，妻子大鬧戲團與農(nóng)村姑娘大打出手，村痞子綁走了戲姑娘，戲團男人與村痞子大打一場。 而戲團內(nèi)部，也因高雅和大眾的分歧在暗流涌動。直到吉信看到那個大嬸們愛著捧著為之瘋狂的奶油小生三郎，在獨自一人排演一出貴族霸王戲，才知道自己一直看輕的沒文化的三郎，他的表演才華并不輸他，高雅這門藝術(shù)，并不是點對點適應(yīng)在知識分子身上，而自己則一直在光說不練，這讓他羞愧萬分。 有時候不得不相信命運，跌跌撞撞兜兜轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)了一圈，還是回到了原點，吉信終于決定要離開戲團尋找理想，三郎更適合留在戲團，戲團更適合大眾文化。離開時他在等一個人，似乎是姐姐，似乎是妹妹，最后等來的是妹妹，最喜歡電影里吉信和妹妹的這段對話： 妹妹：你這么可愛的一個人，這么嚴肅的在想什么呢？ 吉信：我在想啊，我們真是饒了很大的一大圈兒。 妹妹：是嗎？我根本沒有想過有什么彎路，只要想到那條彎路是直路，那么這樣想過的直路，不就是真正的彎路不是嗎？ 吉信：？？？ 最后妹妹拉起吉信要走，吉信問去哪里？妹妹說無論是大阪美國或法國。 原來有一種愛就是，只要認定他了，就會原諒他無意犯下的過錯，無論他去哪里，都會不畏艱辛而不離不棄。跌跌撞撞兜兜轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)了一圈，她們還是修成了正果。 妹妹朝著田野中的戲團揮手喊道：曬油啦啦?。?！ 隨后，戲團由村民的無比熱情的歡迎而來，也由村民無比熱情的歡送而去，為了生存，奔赴他們新的生活，無所謂高雅和低俗，只帶給人們喜歡看的節(jié)目。這就是生活吧。 戲痞子還順走了場主一只鴨子，場主想都想不到，對村痞子千防萬防，卻防不住戲痞子啊，哈哈，他罵罵咧咧的追著汽車，追得滿頭大汗。