UMETSUGU INOUE, JAPAN’S MUSIC MAN

Fri 5/4 – Sun 5/13 @HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE

All screenings $9

There is an old adage when discussing musicals, that goes: “If you can’t say it, you sing it, and if you can’t sing it, you dance it.” This mantra best captures what I find so intoxicating about movie musicals: they craft a depth of emotion which, although perhaps without “realism,” somehow appears more humane and lifelike. In its hyper-emotion, the movie musical can express emotions that mere words and gestures fail to capture.

This month, the Harvard Film Archive, along with the Inoue & Tsukioka Movie Foundation, presents a sampling from movie musical master Umetsugu Inoue. Although perhaps not as well-known to Western audiences, Inoue made over one hundred movies in his lifetime in Japan and Hong Kong, and became particularly known for his musicals there. Beginning with Inoue’s first musical blockbuster THE STORMY MAN, The HFA will also screen THE WINNER, THE GREEN MUSIC BOX, THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK, and, finally, the colorful, energetic HONG KONG NOCTURNE.

Come for the song, but stay for the dance.