Mr. Pu
Pu-san
Japan
1953
98 Min
Black and White
1.37:1
Japanese
Synopsis
Ichikawa’s formal brilliance and gift for black satire emerged with Mr. Pu, which critics have come to rank among his best films. A postwar mania for the put-upon Mr. Pu, a hapless fall-guy featured in a popular series of cartoons, led Ichikawa to make this biting comedy. Mr. Pu is a math teacher who is treated with contempt by everyone as he tries to make his way through the chaos and corruption of the postwar period. Full of breathtaking jokes about prostitution, unemployment, militarism, the black market, nuclear war, and violent crime-one of its funniest sequences features a surreal series of wounded victims stumbling out of the dark-and featuring a striptease sequence, “Nudes at Large,” that has to be seen to be believed, Mr. Pu is the boldest of satirical salvoes. (Decades before Woody Allen’s Zelig, for instance, Ichikawa drops Mr. Pu into documentary footage of leftist street demonstrations.) “Extremely funny but deeply nihilistic” (John Wakeman). Not to be missed. —James Quandt
Director
Kon Ichikawa
Born on November 20, 1915, in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Ichikawa first gained western recognition during the 1950s and 60s with several bleak films, particularly two acclaimed antiwar films, The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain.
Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and collaborated with his wife, screenwriter Natto WADA, until 1965. His films are generally regarded as dark and bleak, interspersed with sparks of humanity, and he often intertwines comedy and tragedy within the same story. He also has a flair for technical expertise, irony, detachment, and a drive for realism across all genres. After Akira KUROSAWA’s departure, no other Japanese director has come close to Ichikawa’s level of recognition, the power of his films, and commercial success.
Ichikawa passed away on February 13, 2008. At age 91 (2006), he was still active as a director, completing a feature-length film, The Inugamis, and directing one segment of the Japanese fantasy, Ten Nights of Dream… read more
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