The Masseurs and a Woman
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu
Year Released: 1938
Rating: 1.0
Two blind massage experts stroll into town and ply their trade in a popular spa - while there, they meet a medley of travelers, students and a curious young lady (who may or may not be a thief). Not much exactly transpires in this blasé 'slice-of-life' - Shimizu's camera is so stagnant and distanced he makes Ozu look outright kinetic. The picture's attempts at humor are usually at the expense of the visually disabled - people playing pranks on them or children taunting them - which is utterly tasteless. Japan's produced a lot of filmmaking giants, but based on the few trivial works by Shimizu that I've had the displeasure of enduring, I can safely assert he's but a minor, minor, minor footnote in their cinematic history.
