About this Event
SEIJUN SUZUKI’S TAISHŌ TRILOGY (Series Pass Available)
(1980)
(1981)
3/29 — YUMEJI (1991)
Please Note: Each film in the trilogy is a completely standalone work—come for one, two, or all three!
7th House is proud to present maverick cinematic alchemist Seijun Suzuki’s extraordinary TAISHŌ TRILOGY across three consecutive Sundays this March—a trio of radically surreal late-career masterworks from one of Japanese cinema’s most singular, shape-shifting figures. Rising through the Nikkatsu studio system in the 1960s, Suzuki became a subversive force within genre filmmaking, transforming crime pictures into detonations of color, rhythm, and avant-garde invention. His now-legendary Branded to K*ll (1967) proved so formally audacious that it led to his dismissal from the studio and a decade-long exile. When he returned in 1980, it was with something altogether stranger: three lavish, visually unbound works set during Japan’s Taishō era (1912–1926), a period of cultural collision and modern awakening.
Across ZIGEUNERWEISEN (1980), KAGERO-ZA (1981), and YUMEJI (1991), Suzuki abandons conventional storytelling for a cinema of atmosphere, sensation, and unstable memory. Scenes unfold like moving paintings; time loops and fractures; sliding doors reveal impossible landscapes; characters drift through dreamlike tableaux where identity and desire blur into apparition. Drawing from silent cinema, theater, Western modernism, and the avant-garde, the trilogy erupts in bold color, theatrical artifice, and sudden ruptures of logic—at once ravishingly composed and gleefully disorienting. Rarely screened in the United States and widely regarded in Japan as the summit of Suzuki’s artistry, these films mark a triumphant rebirth: a lush, sensuous, and experimentally explosive triptych that drifts between dream, memory, and hallucination.
YUMEJI
Suzuki’s dreamlike trilogy concludes with YUMEJI (1991), an elegiac and lyrical meditation on art, longing, and the restless currents of desire. Inspired by the life of the celebrated Taishō-era painter and poet Takehisa Yumeji, the film follows the wandering artist as he drifts through fleeting romances and moments of artistic introspection, his encounters increasingly shadowed by a mysterious woman whose presence seems to blur the boundaries between memory, imagination, and fate.
Where Kagero-Za erupts in theatrical delirium, Yumeji unfolds with a quieter contemplative grace. Suzuki composes each frame with painterly precision—lantern-lit streets, windswept fields, figures poised like living woodblock prints—while recurring musical motifs thread gently through the film. The result is one of the director’s most haunting and visually exquisite works: a luminous meditation on love, artistic yearning, and the elusive nature of inspiration.
Dir. Seijun Suzuki, 1991, 139 mins, Japan, Japanese w/ English subtitles, Unrated (Adults Only), Digital.
Special thanks to American Genre Film Archive and Arrow Films.
TICKETS: $12 | SERIES PASS: $26 (In Person Event Only)
Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.
ADVISORY DISCLAIMER
With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].
CONTENT DISCLAIMER
The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.
ACCESSIBILITY
PRS wants all guests to be able to enjoy our events safely and comfortably. If you require any accessibility accommodation, please reach out to [email protected] before showtime and we will be happy to assist you.
REFUND POLICIES
All sales are final. There are no refunds for PRS events , except in the event of a medical emergency, including but not limited to a positive COVID-19 test. Ticket exchanges may be granted on a case by case basis, pending circumstances.
In the event that PRS is forced to cancel an event entirely, tickets will be refunded or vouchers offered for a rescheduled event.
PARKING
We encourage attendees to consider carpooling, walking or biking to events if possible, and please be considerate of our Los Feliz neighbors when parking. Nearby street parking is available, as well as limited parking onsite at PRS in the front lot (entry from Los Feliz Blvd. when heading east).
PRS EVENT POLICIES
- We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
- Events are subject to change without notice, including guest speakers and/or performers.
- We encourage you to arrive at least 30 min. before the scheduled event start time to find parking, enjoy the Bookstore and take your seats.
- Please turn off all mobile devices before the show. Talking and texting are not allowed during the events.
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- PRS allows Service Animals into the facility under ADA and state guidelines. For further details please visit www.ADA.gov. No animals permitted whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support, under ADA guidelines and CA Health Code.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States
USD 14.64 to USD 29.58
