Double Suicide (1969)

Double Suicide

Medium: Film
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Country: Japan
Released: 1969
First Consumed: May 15, 2012
Format: Hulu streaming
Rating: 8.0/10

Criterion Collection spine #104

Shinoda turns an 18th century bunraku puppet play into a tragic film romance, and keeps more of the bunraku than one would likely assume. He keeps "puppeteers" in every scene to silently move around the sets and "pull the strings". It's a fascinating decision, though it keeps the audience distant from the characters and their incredibly emotional romance. It seems like Shinoda was going for that effect, so I guess that's not really a criticism.