The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (1981 film)

For the film of the same Japanese name directed by Yasuzo Masumura, see The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (1978 film).

The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (曽根崎心中, Soneyaki shinju) is a 1981 near life-size Bunraku puppet film based on Chikamatsu's sewamono The Love Suicides at Sonezaki.^[1] Director Midori Kurisaki (栗崎 碧, stage name as actress Satoko Minami) convinced Living National Treasure puppeteers Tamao Yoshida and Minosuke Yoshida to let her take their puppets outdoors for live action filming outside the traditional Bunraku theatre – the first time anyone had filmed such a performance in outdoor scenery.^[2][3]

The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (2011 DVD reissue)

References

1. New York Magazine - 18 Jul 1988 Page 19 Vol. 21, n° 28 "'THE LOVE SUICIDES AT SONEZAKI' Midori Kurisaki's filmed puppet drama, from an eighteenth-century play, features the exquisite Bunraku puppets led by Tamao Yoshida (a Living National Treasure). "
2. Keiko I. McDonald -Japanese Classical Theater in Films 1994 -- Page 83 "Given such a thematic constant, it is scarcely surprising to see her turn to Chikamatsu's sewamono, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. In fact, her 1981 film with that same title is one of Japanese cinema's most boldly creative approaches to "
3. Cinefantastique - Volume 19 - Page 51 Frederick S Clarke - 1989 Puppeteers Tamao Yoshida (I) and Minosuke Yoshida (c) agreed to let director Midori Kurisaki (r) add cinematic Ingredients to the centuries-old art of ... This kind of film — where the puppets are taken outdoors— had never been done before."