Smallpox Tale (1976)
The smallpox virus has created its own unique atmosphere in Terayama’s film where the skin of a bandaged adolescent and the surface of the filmic image are subjected to a bizarre ‘disturbance’ as snails cross the screen and nails are hammered into the skull of the ailing patient. Illness in this film is as much a psychic entity as a physical one and manifests itself in an array of theatrical tableaux from grotesque women rigorously brushing their teeth to a snooker game where the players in white face makeup behave like automata. A Tale of Smallpox uses a medical theme to chart the traumatic dream life of Terayama’s times, evincing deep-rooted concerns in the Japanese national psyche that hark back to the upheaval of Meiji modernisation and the devastation of World War Two.
Director:
Shūji Terayama
Writer:
Shūji Terayama
 |
Keiko Niitaka as |
 |
Yoko Ran as |
 |
Takeshi Wakamatsu as |
| Directing | Shūji Terayama | Director |
| Writing | Shūji Terayama | Screenplay |
| Production | Eiko Kujo | Producer |
| Directing | Henrikku Morisaki | Assistant Director |
| Camera | Tatsuo Suzuki | Director of Photography |
