Rikyu (film)

Rikyū
Rikyū
	DVD cover art
Directed by	Hiroshi Teshigahara
Written by	Genpei Akasegawa; Hiroshi Teshigahara
Based on	Hideyoshi to Rikyu; by Yaeko Nogami
Starring	Rentarō Mikuni; Tsutomu Yamazaki
Cinematography	Fujio Morita
Edited by	Toshio Taniguchi
Music by	Tōru Takemitsu
Distributed by	Capitol Films (USA)
Release date	15 September 1989 (Japan);
Running time	135 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Rikyu (利休, Rikyū, 1989) is Hiroshi Teshigahara's film about the 16th century master of the Japanese tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyū.

Synopsis

The film focuses on the late stages of life of Rikyū, during the highly turbulent Sengoku period of feudal Japan. It starts near the end of Oda Nobunaga's reign, with Rikyū serving as tea master to Nobunaga, and continues into the Momoyama Period. Rikyū is portrayed as a man thoroughly dedicated to aesthetics and perfection, especially in relation to the art of tea. While serving as tea master to the new ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Rikyū finds himself in a uniquely privileged position, with constant access to the powerful feudal lord and the theoretical ability to influence policy, yet he studiously avoids deep involvement in politics while attempting to focus his full attention to the study and teachings of the way of tea. To the extent that he expresses himself, he does so diplomatically, in a way to avoid disrupting the harmony of his relationship with Hideyoshi. Yet, as society is changed violently and radically around him, also finding himself the focus of jealousy and misdirected suspicions, Rikyū ultimately can not avoid confronting larger social issues. He is compelled to express an opinion on Hideyoshi's military plans. This one breach of his studied isolation from world affairs leads quickly to tragic consequences.

Background

Director Teshigahara, himself a master and teacher of the Japanese traditional art of ikebana, brings the viewer into appreciation and deep sympathy for Rikyu's aesthetic idealism and his careful diplomatic efforts to avoid excessive entanglement in political affairs. The film itself is very studied in its aestheticism, and very expressive of the shocking force of life intruding into the guarded hermetic space of the artist/idealist.

Cast

Rentarō Mikuni as Sen no Rikyū
Tsutomu Yamazaki as Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Yoshiko Mita as Riki
Matsumoto Kōshirō IX as Oda Nobunaga
Nakamura Kichiemon II as Tokugawa Ieyasu
Ryō Tamura as Toyotomi Hidenaga
Kyōko Kishida as Nene
Tanie Kitabayashi as Ōmandokoro
Sayoko Yamaguchi as Cha-cha
Bandō Mitsugorō X as Ishida Mitsunari
Hisashi Igawa as Yamanoue Sōji
Donald Richie as Gaspar Coelho
Kyoko Enami as Chika

Awards

Rentarō Mikuni won the Best Actor Award of the Japanese Academy for his roles in this film and Tsuribaka Nisshi of the same year. He also won four other Japanese acting awards for the role. Tōru Takemitsu won the Japanese Academy award for best musical score. Director Hiroshi Teshigahara won awards from the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Montréal World Film Festival. The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.^[1]

References

^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

External links

Rikyu at IMDb
Rikyu at AllMovie
Rikyu at Strictly Film School
Rikyu at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
Rikyu at Rotten Tomatoes

[1] Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

[1]