Twenty-four Eyes

Since last Christmas, I've been eager to see Keisuke Kinoshita's films. Why? I found out that he served as the "sensei" for Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi - two of my favourite directors - so I guess his films should be at least interesting. Recently I bought Eureka's release of his Twenty-four Eyes (1954) - a film (based on Sakae Tsuboi's novel of the same name) about a young teacher as she begins to teach 12 six-year-olds. The film spans over the period of nearly two decades to tell the story in its entirety.

Initially the film seems to be quite lighthearted, but the further the film goes the more tragic it becomes. Yes, it is very sentimental, but like with Kurosawa's films, I enjoyed the extreme sentimentality. Kinoshita pulls it off perfectly even though the film is full of strong emotions for an hour straight. He expresses the individuality of each child and creates colorful characters. It is heart-wrenching to see how the society oppresses the women and then the war takes away the men. The film is not only about the characters, it's also about Japan in a period which forced the nation to change a lot.

The most notable aspect of the entire film is the cinematography. Kinoshita creates compositions that will never leave my mind. They are so hauntingly beautiful and striking - and it gets even better because there are certain compositions that are used many times during the film. For example, the interiors of the teacher's home is only shot through two compositions even though a lot of screentime is spent there. The film's pace is calm yet dense - the plot unfolds like life usually does.

Twenty-four Eyes moved me to tears. It's a powerful film, but sadly too unknown. It actually beat Kurosawa's Seven Samurai for Kinema Junpo's Best Film of the Year award in 1954. Even though I would not agree with the choice it still says a lot about the undeniable power of the film.

Score: 10 out of 10