A Page of Madness (1926)
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A Page of Madness Movie Review
A Page of Madness is a 1926 Japanese silent psychological thriller film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It’s a very memorable, dark movie.
In Japan, a man takes a job as a janitor at a mental asylum in order to be near his wife. Although his wife suffers genuine mental anguish, the man believes he can rescue her – but his attempt to break her out one night backfires when she panics. After she returns to her room, the husband again makes plans to try to take her out, only to be interrupted in the attempt by a doctor and several attendants, whom he attacks and believes he has killed.
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Needless to say, this is a very strong, powerful story of madness and mental illness, but because it has no intertitles whatsoever, it was very difficult to follow and thus hard to understand most of it before reading the plot yourself afterward. I know that that led to a more avant-garde, artistic movie, but still the confusion bothered me personally as the plot is so strong that I wish I could have enjoyed it myself while watching the film.
Teinosuke Kinugasa here made such a strong directorial showcase. The movie is phenomenally directed, but also well scripted and particularly potent when it comes to its technical aspects, in particular the editing and the cinematography.
Yes, it has been compared to the Soviet films of the twenties, and I wholeheartedly agree. When it comes to editing, it has that quick, confident edge to it and surely the film having so many cuts in 1926 is to be admired. It has such a flair to it.
The same goes for the cinematography which is magnificent, and some of the imagery here is absolutely outstanding and incredibly memorable. The whole film is highly memorable and it stays with you after you finish it, but again I wish it had dialogue and intertitles, at least some, as that would have made it more understandable and even more powerful.
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As for the acting, it’s terrific across the board with Masao Inoue delivering one powerhouse, highly emotional performance. And I personally wouldn’t call the movie a horror, but a psychological thriller as it’s very powerful in that regard.
A Page of Madness needed at least some intertitles in it. Yes, it’s an avant-garde movie, but its story is so magnificent that I wished to have been able to understand more of it while watching it. Technically speaking, the movie is an early gem of Japanese cinema. The direction from Teinosuke Kinugasa is fantastic, the main performance from Masao Inoue is potent, the cinematography is superb and of course its quick editing is masterfully done. It’s a very memorable, dark and strange film.
