The Water Magician

A silent Japanese film set in a travelling show company. Taki performs a water act. She works with a company that moves from town to town and audiences know her name. On one journey she meets a young carriage driver. Kinya wants to study law but has no money and has given up hope. Taki makes him an offer: he will go to Tokyo, study, and she will pay his costs. He accepts. Years pass. Taki sends money every month. During that time her own situation worsens: the show business weakens, her earnings fall and she goes into debt. One night something she does to find the money ends in a death. The last section takes place in a courtroom. The prosecutor facing her is the young man whose studies she paid for. The matter at the centre is debt and sacrifice: Taki never expected anything in return, and that left her with nothing to protect her. It was made in the silent era. In Japan such films were watched with a narrator present, reading the text live. Takako Irie plays Taki and Tokihiko Okada plays Kinya. Kenji Mizoguchi directed. It is one of his early films to have survived. An important production for anyone who likes silent Japanese cinema and melodrama. Before you watch, know this: parts of the film are lost and the existing copy is incomplete.